The National Commission for Civic (NCCE) has urged Ghanaians not to take Terrorists’ threats of insecurity in neighbouring countries lightly as the country prepares for the major election in December.

Ms Alice Ndego, the Bongo District Director of the Commission, reiterated a need to safeguard the peace and security currently being enjoyed in the country to prevent any infiltration of activities of violent extremists.

“There have been several attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali by extremist groups, even though Ghana has not experienced any extremist attacks yet, the government is fighting hard to prevent such invasion.

“Terrorism and other forms of violence including violent extremism have the potential to derail the democratic gains Ghana has made as a country and so we should not loose guard and allow misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, provocative utterance, fake news, intemperate language etc. to mislead us to cause tensions to destabilize the peace of the country” she said.

Ms Ndego made the call during an Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting held at Bongo in the Upper East Region to take inputs of stakeholders to prepare for the December 7, 2024, elections.

The meeting, organised by the NCCE was part of the European Union sponsored project dubbed “preventing and containing violent extremism” and was held on the theme “Together we can build Ghana, so get involved”.

As a commission, Ms Ndego noted, it would continue to work to influence the conscience of the citizenry aimed at reducing voter apathy, increase citizens participation and rally citizens to make informed choices that will work for collective interest.

“To sustain peace, promote national cohesion, Ghanaians must unite to consolidate our gains towards progressively implementing the principles and laws enshrined in the Constitution.

“We are one people, one nation with a common destiny. Our role as citizens of Ghana is to live by the principles and dictates of the 1992 Constitution and contribute meaningfully to the democratic development of our dear country, Ghana,” she added.

Dr Imurana Mohammed, NCCE National Director for Programmes, said the youth who formed majority of the country’s population were usually targeted to cause trouble and urged the youth to desist from being recruited to destabilise the country.

He urged political parties to employ a dialogue as a good mechanism to resolving their differences to prevent such issues from escalating to violence to sustain the peace and stability.

Assistant Superintendent Adinkrah Kofi, an Immigration Officer with the Ghana Immigration Service, who took the participants through violent extremism conflicts and ways of resolving them, urged the political parties to train their supporters to tolerate divergent views.

He said respect for one another was a major tool to ensuring peace and as the country geared towards the general elections in December, the country needed to unite and deepen the existing democratic gains.