Allow the youth to express their concerns freely- CPP Chair to Government

Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong Kumankumah, has urged the government to allow the youth to express their concerns without any oppression, considering the challenges people are facing in the country.

She gave the advice at the commemoration of the International Day for Tolerance held in Accra on Wednesday.

The International Day for Tolerance is marked every year worldwide on November 16th. The day aims at creating public awareness of the dangers of intolerance.

The goal of International Day for Tolerance is to get people to appreciate the beauty of many viewpoints, ethnicity, faiths, and ideologies while also recognising the cultural diversity that exists.

Read Also: Int. Day for Tolerance: Let’s learn to tolerate each other- UN Peace Amb. to Gov’t, youth

Hosted by the United Nations (UN) Eminent Peace Ambassador to Ghana and the Country Director for the Ghana Chapter of the International Association of World Peace Advocates (IAWPA), Dr Samuel Ben Owusu, the event brought together organisations, religious and or traditional leaders, stakeholders who spoke about tolerance and the need for everyone to understand it and practice it.

“With where we are in the country today, it is so important that we come to the top of everything to be tolerant of each other, because if a person is unable to get a meat today, even looking at the fuel prices, those of us buying is very expensive, but the person who also bought the whole tanker for one hour and had to change the price by about 20%, that is also a difficult thing,”

She added, “When people demonstrate, let us make sure that we tolerate the demonstrators, let them speak, and let the young men express their opinion, because if they do not, you may not have a room to sleep.” If they come to you with numbers, there is nothing we can do, let us try to tolerate each other, and that is my advice to the president and all those in government.

She continued, “In as much as we are also worried about where we are, we must also understand that it did not happen overnight, and there are other reasons for where we are today. So, let us all tighten our belts, make our thumbs ready, speak our minds, and make sure that those that are not doing as well as we want find a better way of getting them out of the system.”

For his part, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Virginia E. Palmer, challenged all to understand the true meaning of tolerance and practice it.

The above message was given on her behalf by the Political Counselor at the US Embassy, Mr Christopher Gunning at the event.

“I charge you all to consider with full acceptance the true meaning of tolerance. It means looking into our hearts, looking into our souls and accepting that everyone of us has something that we are intolerant about. I am no different, we need to focus on how we can work together, how we can tolerate each other’s differences, how we can seek solutions, and how we can really listen to each other. It is not always easy, but it is absolutely the right thing to do,” he said.

The Ga State Asafoatse Onukpa and President of the Ga Damgbe Council of Asafoatsemen and Asafoanyemen, Captain Nii Kojo Nseni Mankattah IV, also advised the youth to desist from any activity that can mar the peace of the Nation.