Maintain peace in Alavanyo, Nkonya – Minister to residents

The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, has called on the chiefs and people of Nkonya and Alavanyo to help maintain the prevailing peace in the area for about a year now.

He urged both sides to continue to work together to project the areas in a positive light to attract investors;

“The peace in Nkonya and Alavanyo must be maintained, and I will like to appeal to the chiefs and queens, the young and the old that we must work towards it every day”, he said.

The Regional Minister said the Regional Coordinating Council was doing its best to sustain the amity and asked the Regional Peace Council to continue engaging both sides for a lasting solution.

Dr Letsa said this at an event to mark the International Day of Peace, organised by the Volta Regional office of the National Peace Council in Ho under the theme: “Our Collective Action for Peace”.

Reverend Seth Mawutor, Chairman of the Regional Peace Council, said the non-existence of a “joint problem-solving dialogue platform” was “partly responsible” for the occasional killings that have rocked the area over the years, and that the Alavanyo-Nkonya Insider Peace-building Committee, formed to mend the broken relationship between the two areas, would be revived.

He expressed gratitude to the Volta and Oti Regional Coordinating Councils, the UNDP, and the media for their roles in the peacebuilding process.

He called on the Coordinating Councils of Volta and Oti to work together with the Forestry Commission to revive farming activities in the Togo Plateau Forest reserve so as to help the people contribute to government’s Planting for Food and Jobs Programme.

Togbega Gbogbolulu V, Paramount Chief of Vakpo Traditional Area and a member of the Regional Peace Council, said the International Day of Peace must serve as a reminder to help keep the flame of peace alive.

Mr Christian Yaw Elletey, a regent of Nkonya, said one year of peace was commendable and promised to put his house in order to ensure an all-time peaceful coexistence.

He said the Peace Council would continue with strategic engagements with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the peace process.

There was no representative from Alavanyo at the celebration.

The International Day of Peace is celebrated globally on September 21 each year as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.