The Kadjebi District Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), with support from the European Union (EU), has engaged the youth of political parties in the district on peace and tolerance.

It is aimed to improve their knowledge and attitude on the culture of peaceful coexistence, tolerance and non-violent behaviours.

The engagement formed part of the Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) project being implemented by the NCCE.

It is expected that these engagements would help participants to understand the national policy framework regulating violent extremism and to expose participants to the vulnerabilities and the negative repercussions of joining violent extremist groups.

Representatives from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), students and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) attended the day’s programme at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

Speaking at the programme, Mr. Setriakor Kwesi Gagakuma, the Oti Deputy Regional Director, NCCE, said Terrorism and violent extremism remained a major security threat confronting countries across the continent, Africa, and the West African Sub-Region.

He said Ghana finds itself in a region where acts of violent extremism and terrorism is prevalent and that Data released by Institute for Economic and Peace (IEP)-Global Terrorism Index 2024, Burkina Faso, Ghana’s immediate neighbour to the north ranks first with Mali, another West African neighbor rank third.

Mr. Gagakuma explained that Ghana having achieved the successful conduct of Presidential and Parliamentary Election-eight (8) times in succession culminating in Peaceful transition and transfer of political power from a ruling Party to an opposition Party in 2000, 2008 and 2016 calls for the avoidance of complacency in the face of all these threats.

He said it thus becomes imperative that measures are taken to make the citizenry aware of the threat as the nation takes measures to make the state impervious to such attacks.

The Deputy Director said as elections 2024 approaches, it was imperative to foster a culture of peace and tolerance among the youth, who are the highest demographic group and play a pivotal role in shaping the political landscape and that the Political Party Youth Activists are often at the forefront of political activities; they are often the perpetrators of electoral violence.

He said most of them participate in violence out of ignorance of the various regulations governing the conduct of elections and that in most cases, some leaders of political parties take advantage of their vulnerability, especially, the unemployed ones and used them to cause disturbance and mayhem for a pittance.

He said their vulnerability cannot be overlooked as extremists can take advantage of it to spread violent ideologies, hence, significantly influencing the wider electorate.

Mr. Gagakuma said by educating them on non-violence, peaceful coexistence and national cohesion, they lead by examples and encourage their peers to adopt peaceful approaches, hence the engagement.

Mr. Gagakuma, who spoke on “Peaceful coexistence and inter-faith tolerance, Triggers and effects of Violent Extremism (VE), awareness of VE at worship centre/markets”, advised the participants not to be lured in joining extremist groups.

He also asked them to be careful with strangers they came into contact online, report suspicious characters to security agencies for prompt action and that love for Ghana should supersedes their individual interests as the December 7 polls approaches.

Mr. Eric Arthur Fynn, Kadjebi District Director, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, urged the participants to participate fully in the upcoming election as it was a right.

Mr. Fynn, who did presentation on mis/dis/malinformation advised the participants to fact-checks information before they shared as false information could lead to conflict.

The participants, engaging with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), commended the NCCE for the education and pledged not to engage in any violent acts that could disturb the peace of the District.