Let's make the North model of peace, security - Veep

Tamale, Dec. 8, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Tuesday appealed to people of the Northern part of Ghana to work together to make that area a model of peace and security to attract more investments. He stressed the need for the country and its development partners to ensure that comprehensive plans were made to engage the youth in productive activities to prevent them from engaging in conflicts. Vice President Mahama made the appeal when he launched the United Nations Human Security programme for Northern Ghana in Tamale, which is aimed at enhancing human security through the development of local capacity for holistic community-based conflict prevention in Ghana. Six UN agencies; the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and United Nations University in collaboration with the Ghana government are implementing the programme.

The Japanese government is providing about $3.053 million for the programme, which also seeks to develop the capacity of local institutions, communities and individuals to manage and prevent conflicts in the most conflict sensitive communities of Northern Ghana. Sixteen communities in four conflict prone areas namely; Bawku Municipality in the Upper East Region, Wa Municipality in Upper West Region, Yendi Municipality and Tamale Metropolis in the Northern Region have been targeted and would be supported in the programme. Vice President Mahama said: "In the good old days, mischief and wrong doing were regarded as a taboo and armed conflicts were never part of the people of the North. They had all it takes for them to improve their lives but today, the collapse of the cotton industry, lack of market for produce such as tomato and rice has almost frustrated our people."

Vice President Mahama said Ghana needed to reframe its development agenda with broad consultation with the beneficiaries to ensure that they reap the full benefits of such development. He commended the UN agencies and the Japanese government for the initiative and gave the assurance that Ghana would play its required role to ensure the success of the programme. Mr. Daouda Toure, UN Resident Coordinator, attributed the resurgence of threats to human security to the persistent poverty adding that such fears could only be resolved through comprehensive, integrated and people-centred solutions. He said Northern Ghana was faced with social, economic and natural threats, which undermined its effective development and called for a holistic approach to address them. Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina, Northern Regional Minister, said the region was working tirelessly to ensure peace and security, which had eluded it for a very long time because of the people were unable to tolerate the actions and inactions of others. He said it was necessary to train media personnel on how to handle conflict issues to prevent escalation of conflicts through negative reports or stories.