By Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Ave Dakpa
As part of efforts to drum home the message of peace before, during and after the December 7, 2024 elections, the Akatsi North District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) at Ave Dakpa, the District capital, has organized a day’s sensitization workshop for youth activists in the area.
The participants were drawn from various youth groups across the district in addition to some distinguished and accomplished individuals whose lives and actions are worthy of emulation.
The workshop was aimed among other things at inculcating in them the need to refrain from actions and inactions that could cause chaos and or result in anarchy and the loss of values for human lives and property.
As part of the sensitization programme, the Commission screened a couple of video footages of civil wars and inter-religious conflicts in certain parts of the world to the youth or participants.
After the video shows, there was an open forum where the youths evaluated the scenes or contents from the video footages. They noticed among others the absence of social amenities such as electricity, water, banks and markets in these war-torn areas.
Some also observed the absence of a normal human life in these communities.
They include the absence of going to school, place of worship and to the market. People were also seen carrying their few belongings to and from due to the devastations. The inhuman treatment of fellow human beings like killing and maiming with impunity as the so-called foreign partners looked on unconcerned, were other observations made by the youth from the footages.
Another mess that stroked the youth was the mass proliferation of illegal weapons as a result of the wars as well as their effects on human lives after such wars, disturbances and genocides.
Members of the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee present at the event, took turns to address the youth on the footages alongside preaching peace to them. The Committee Members called on the youth to spread the message for non-violent, free and fair elections in December.
The Parish Priest in-charge of the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Ave Dakpa and the Vice Chairman of the Inter-Party Dialogue Committee, Akatsi North, Rev. Fr. Justin Harry Barawusu also spoke on behalf of the Committee, calling for peace and calm during these trying periods.
According to him, peace is a pre-requisite for total development. ‘You will not know the value of peace until peace eludes you. Simply put, you will not appreciate the value of a part of the body until you have a problem with that side of the body’, Fr. Barawusu emphasized.
Rev. Fr. Barawusu reminded the participants that peace is the absence of disturbances where there are no barrel of guns, launching of rockets and the throwing of hand grenades. He called for justice, the bedrock of peace and tranquility to prevail in all sectors of the country’s electoral process.
The District Electoral Officer, Mr. Wisdom Alai also addressed the youth and used the opportunity to clear all doubts, misinformation and disinformation about the electoral process.
He asked them not to be carried away by emotions but instead help to ensure that there is peace, non-violent free and fair elections come December 7.
The District Director of the NCCE, Mr. Seth Kofi Deenu called on the youth to encourage all illegible voters to come out in their numbers not only to fulfill their constitutional mandate to the state but also satisfy themselves about their involvement in the electoral process to choose their leaders.
According to him, voting is a right and at the same time a responsibility of every citizen. Mr. Deenu therefore used the occasion to appeal to the youth and the participants to talk to their colleagues to eschew all forms of electoral offenses that can ruin their lives and also put them behind bars.
The NCCE in the Akatsi North District has been at the forefront of public education of the youth and the citizens over the years on all fronts not only during election periods but also other times on other matters affecting the people where necessary.
