Some participants at an Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) have identified the absence of a national agenda as a major problem likely to pose a serious security threat.
They said issues of human security, encompassing economic, food, health, environmental and personal security, needed a deliberate national agenda to ensure the continuation of programmes and policies to benefit the citizenry irrespective of which government was in power.
They said issues of unemployment, hunger, marginalisation, conflict and other underlying conditions that could make people, especially the youth, susceptible to being recruited into violent extremist groups, would be addressed by the national agenda.
Mr Remember Ahiabor, one of the participants, said most projects, which should have been completed and operationalised to address societal needs, were either abandoned or cancelled by successive governments.
“This happens each time there’s a change of government. This one will come and discontinue projects that were already ongoing and initiate new ones. When the other one comes, he repeats what the predecessor did. What happens is that development problems that such projects would have solved, linger on.
That is not all. The amount of money proposed initially for the execution of such a project goes up. So we end up spending huge sums of money in the end. Monies that should have been channelled into other areas to benefit Ghana just go waste and we the citizens are the losers.
“Why don’t we have measures in place such that when this person comes, he finishes with all ongoing projects before new ones. They must consider us,” Mr Ahiabor recommended.
The meeting which brought together members from political parties, youth, Persons with Disability (PWDs) and religious groups, market women, security and local Assembly officials, saw talks on national cohesion, Public Order Act, Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, and a SkyNews special report on Massacre in Mozambique all aimed at encouraging the participants to commit to peace.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Thomas Yao Agbanyo, Anloga District Police Commander, cautioned participants against activities of violent extremism, land-guarding and threats of violence in the District, saying perpetrators would not be spared and that punishments for such breaches ranged from five to 10 years imprisonment and 10 to 25 years imprisonment on summary conviction.
He called for collaboration with the police in crime-fighting and public orderliness while advocating for less expensive and acrimonious settlement of civic cases to keep Ghana’s peace.
Torgbui Hatsu III of Dzita, Anloga District Director NCCE, said the focus had changed unlike before IPDC meetings were held during electioneering periods.
He noted that the collaboration between the Commission and the National Security Ministry sought to empower Ghanaians to stand for peace and national cohesion.
He said the project, which started in August and reached out to various stakeholders, especially the youth, pointed divisive ideologies, discrimination, ethnic politics, corruption and unemployment, among others as threats to the country’s peace.
He said there ought to be a conscious effort on the part of every Ghanaian to maintain the peace.
“Ghanaians are not some special breed of people different from others created by God and so we should be careful.”
Mr Joseph Kpattah, Presiding Member, Anloga District Assembly, promised to facilitate such education to be given to other Assembly members so it could reach the larger community.
