Elders of Dagbon asked to come together to bury Ya-Na

Woribogu, (N/R), Nov. 22, GNA- Mr Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister has appealed to elders of Dagbon irrespective of their royal leanings to come together to bury the Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani.

This, he said, would serve as a prelude to peace, adding that the "present stalemate is not good for anybody".

Mr Debrah was speaking at the commissioning of a 268-million -cedis school block for the Woribogu primary school under the Education Sector Support Programme- School Upgrading Project (ESSP-SU).

The British government funded the project through the British Department for International Development (DFID).

Mr Debrah said the greatest constraint to development in the region was its conflict situation, which he noted had derailed the development process and perpetuated poverty among the people.

He said " there is no nation, society or community that has progress through conflict but those that emerge unscathed from such upheavals without destroying their basic structure are those that are called great".

He reminded the people that "the world is moving forward and will not look back to see those who stay behind" and urged them to increase the peace process to catch up with the rest of the world."

Mr Debrah said the government respects culture and tradition and has the confidence in the traditional set-up which has in-built mechanism for resolving conflict, pointing out that "it is only when solutions are found by the people themselves or in partnership with them that they can stand the test of time". He said the government would continue to search for solutions to the Dagbon crisis through the traditional set-ups, but cautioned that should that fail or unnecessarily obstruct progress, the government may resort to other alternatives.

He urged the youth to play a more positive role in resolving the crisis by not allowing people to use them as agents of destabilization and division. The Regional Minister advised the youth to take up the challenges by demonstrating in more practical terms that they were the future leaders of Dagbon by constituting themselves into a unifying force with a positive vision for the future.