Politicians needs vigilance to 'smell' conflicts

Accra, Jan 02, GNA - Nii Amasah Namoale, Member of Parliament for Dedekotopon on Wednesday urged fellow politicians to be extra vigilant this year to spot signs that were likely to affect peace in their respective constituencies.

"The politician must be able to identify signals of conflicts, be it political, social or traditional in order to help put in place the requisite measures to check them," he told the Ghana News Agency in an interview.

"We need peace to develop and we can only do that when peoples' tolerance levels are monitored and controlled well," he explained. Nii Namoale said peace, respect, tolerance and understanding must rule in the hearts of people in the new year for meaningful development especially since a lot of wrongs might had gone on politically, socially and economically during the year 2007.

The MP said as part of his quest to promote peace, in early December last year he spearheaded a workshop on conflict management for traditional leaders in La.

He said the aim was to build their capacities to effectively handle conflict in their areas. Resource persons from Commonwealth Human Rights and the African Security Dialogue taught them on conflict management, causes, effects and solutions.

Nii Namoale said people needed to be empowered to build their capacity to resolve petty squabbles, bickering and minor issues that had the tendency to degenerate into bigger conflicts.

"We need to sharpen the skills of our leaders to promote peace and not inflame passion and tribalism," he said and explained that the roles played by chiefs and other traditional leaders were vital. The next group of people to benefit from such workshops would be the clan houses where family heads would be equipped with the needed skills to handle conflicts.