Election 2020: Peace Council warns elders and politicians not to incite youth to cause violence

The National Peace Council in the Ashanti Region has issued a stern warning to elders and politicians who may want to secretly incite youth into unleashing violence during the general elections.

The Regional Chairman Rt. Rev Christopher Nyarko Andam gave the caution in a speech read for him during a community youth Peace durbar organized by the national cadet corps in Kumasi on Friday October, 23, 2020.

He asserted that political violence among other election-related conflicts are mostly orchestrated by unscrupulous elders and politicians, who use the youth as a smokescreen for their parochial interests.

He indicated that to sustain peace and prevent the occurrence of electoral violence in the upcoming December polls, all attempts should be focused on empowering the youth to condition their minds in a way that will deter them from being manipulated by politicians.

He was emphatic, “We have to empower the youth to condition their minds in a way that will deter them from being influenced by politicians, and see themselves as stakeholders in the maintenance of peace in their communities.”

Rt. Rev Andam further pointed out that as the political temperature of the country heats up some wayward politicians will attempt to exploit the youth and lure them into acts of violence and confusion.

He believes it is therefore necessary to educate the youth to know that the people manipulating them are undertaking such steps to accomplish their selfish interest but not for the benefit of the youth.

Rev Andam also admonished young persons in the country to learn to eschew all forms of violence in order that the country records violent free elections on December 7.

“It’s for this reason that we encourage organizations like the Ashanti Regional Cadet Corps, who are themselves composed of youthful activists, to double their efforts and engage youth minds with productive initiatives to distance them from being manipulated by unscrupulous persons, ” he alluded.

The event was on the theme “one people, one nation.”