The Upper East Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr. James Abdulai Ayaala has charged Ghanaians not to do anything untoward that has the tendency to jeopardize all the beautiful democratic credentials the country has toiled for and gained over the period.

“From 1992 to date, it has come to be accepted in Ghana that, democracy is the best system of governance and all well-meaning Ghanaians ought to keep building on this path”, he added.

Mr. Ayaala was speaking at the second meeting of the Kassena-Nankana West District Inter-Party Dialogue Committee meeting held at the Assembly’s Conference Hall. The meeting was convened by the District NCCE Office to allow for deliberations among the 40 members of the Committee who come from various backgrounds including executives of youth associations, the security, some public service institutions, political party executives and religious bodies among others.

In his remarks, the Kassena-Nankana West District Director for the NCCE, Mr. Robert Dampare said that the District Inter-Party Dialogue Committee is purely a creation of the NCCE, which was reconstituted and inaugurated on 9^th May 2024. He explained that the initiative is geared at undertaking peace-building consultative meetings with stakeholders in helping to avert possible violence, extremism, promoting peace, national cohesion and peaceful co-existence as Ghana navigates towards the 2024 general elections.

Mr. Dampare disclosed that the Committee will be embarking on churches and mosques visitations, hold community fora, meet with other identifiable groups and also carry out elaborate radio campaigns throughout the electioneering season to the election’ day and after so as to help ensure a free, fair and violence-free elections for the country.

He mentioned that the Committee will also engage with the Electoral Commission for accreditation to undertake election monitoring and submit its report and findings to the authorities for appropriate actions.

The Paga District Police Commander, ASP Mr. Ziaullah Khalil Ibrahim who was also present at the function delivered a presentation on Monitoring and Reporting Threats and Vulnerabilities tot Violent Extremism as well as Mediation and Resolution of Local Conflicts. He cautioned in his presentation that it was purely the mandate of the Police and other sister security agencies to maintain law and order and also ensure that the country’s borders are constantly watched in order to stop infiltration of terrorists and any form of extremists.

He however held the view that, it was equally the responsibility of all Ghanaians especially the border town dwellers to be up the beat and assist the security agencies to perform effectively by providing them with tipoffs on any suspicious and strange persons and any terror-related activities in their communities since the personnel cannot be everywhere at the same time.

ASP Khalil spoke about causes of threats and vulnerabilities and mentioned the unstable security situation within the continent in countries like Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria as potential sources of a spill over with political, socio-economic, disenfranchisement, religious beliefs and youth unemployment all forming part of the causes as well.

The District Commander advised political actors and the general public against all forms of election violence including rowdyism and stopping voters from casting their votes saying any reservations must be filed through the legal channels created by the Electoral Commission such as filling a challenge form to make your case rather than taking the law into one’s own hands.

He touched on ways to detect youth radicalism and signs of recruitment and explained that, “radicalism is the act of someone adopting an extreme point of view, especially on social, and political issues as well as ideologies to the extent that, all other opinions do not matter except their own and hold that, everyone else must tow their line, nothing more, nothing less”.

According to officer Khalil, signs of radicalism may include the following; rejection or averse to political systems, strange individuals or movements with suspicious acts, exhibition of excitement about footage of extremists and the show of sympathy or passion to extremist ideologies and groups are all points to be watched closely.

During the time allotted for discussion, the issue of the most appropriate person to usher a physically challenged person and those with blindness to the final point of casting their ballot was resolved, as the security officers or the relative who escorted the individuals are the responsible people to carry out those duties.

Source: Peter Atogewe Wedam, Kessena – Nankana West District Information Officer