Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says government will employ a multifaceted approach to permanently quash secessionist ideologies in the country.

According to him, the multifaceted approach includes mass sensitization and education on the topic of secession and its attendant consequences as well as the use of the law to punish criminal acts that result from secessionist tendencies.

His comments follow recent violent activities in the Volta Region perpetrated by suspected secessionists including the blockade of major routes into the Volta Region, the simultaneous attack on police stations in Mepe and Aveyime and most recently, the attack on the Ho State Transport Corporation (STC) yard.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Information Minister said: “We’ve been making the point that it is a multifaceted approach. There are people who genuinely don’t understand what is going on. They’ve just heard somebody say that there was some plebiscite that was time bound and they can ask for secession from Ghana or something and they may have joined that train not knowing what it was or its consequences. You can educate such people to understand.

On the criminal front, he added that persons who deliberately use violence to harm others or destroy government property will be dealt with according to the law.

“And then there’s the person who picks up a gun and shoots a police officer or a person who attacks a police station. That’s a criminal act that must be dealt with as a criminal act. And so it is a multifaceted approach where you continue to enforce the law, protect the population, and also educate those who must be educated. It is not a single bullet for the entire enterprise.”

According to him, at the moment, the prosecution of some suspected secessionists is ongoing.

Meanwhile, government has initiated its soft approach – i.e the education and sensitization of people concerning issues of secession – by contacting chiefs, religious leaders and other opinion leaders to help educate the entire populace.

“I think earlier this week there was an attempt to have a meeting with some of the traditional councils or in lieu of that the entire regional house of chiefs. The timing was a bit short, and what the government through the Minister of Chieftaincy did was to request for an alternate meeting later this week. I think that kick starts the engagement,” he said.

He stated that the purpose of the engagement was to ensure that all persons across the political divide, traditional rulers, religious leaders etc participate in the exercise to: “(a) ensure that the truth is told to people,

“(b) ensure that the kind of education that is required to also denounce these acts and not be part of it is also put out there,

“And (c) to ensure that criminal elements conspiring and attempting criminality are also made available to the state security agencies so that we win together.”

He further expressed government’s pleasure with the actions taken by various paramountcies in the Volta Region to denounce the actions of the suspected secessionists.

“Already, we are excited that the Gbi paramountcy, the Alavanyo paramountcy, the Anlo paramountcy have all come out very responsibly to denounce the act, calling on their citizens not to be involved in this kind of enterprise.”