The Upper East Regional Peace Council has enhanced the capacity of stakeholders, including opinion leaders, youth groups, women, and other minority groups, on conflict resolution in the Garu District of the Region.
The stakeholders, drawn from three communities, namely Kugri, Siisi, and Denugu, were equipped with causes of conflict and how they could detect early warning signs and respond early to local disputes while enabling them to institute a community-based conflict management mechanism.
This aimed at addressing localised conflicts and challenges, including chieftaincy disputes, farmer herder disputes, land litigations, and political disagreement, among others, that threatened Ghana’s peace and stability, particularly in the Upper East, North East, and Upper West Regions.
The two-day capacity-building workshop for the stakeholders formed part of the project dubbed, “Enhancing Social Cohesion and Social Contract through Empowering Women and Youth in Northern Ghana,” being implemented by the Regional Peace Council.
It is being funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Mr Ali Anankpieng, the Executive Secretary of the Upper East Regional Peace Council, said peace was vital for the development of every community, and the stakeholders were major actors in ensuring peace in their communities.
He said the Peace Council, as an implementer of the peacebuilding project by the UNDP, was committed to enhancing the capacity of stakeholders in the maintenance of peace and called on them to be peace mediators.
Madam Magdalene Kannae, a Board Member of the National Peace Council, called for the need to champion peace within communities nationwide due to the electioneering season.
She said although Ghana had had several elections, the Election 2024 was crucial and special in nature, given the peculiar interest by the two major political parties, coupled with the Sahel crisis and other internal conflicting issues within communities.
She advised stakeholders and the public to avoid hate speeches and comments that had the tendency to incite violence, saying Ghana had lost its enviable position as the most peaceful country within the West-African subregion to Sierra Leone.
The Global Peace Index 2022 report cited the country as dropping from being the second most peaceful country in Africa to the fourth position, which was a wakeup call to all stakeholders to commit to the campaign in promoting peace, Madan Kannae said.
Mr Edward Ndebugre, the Assemblyman, Kugri Natenga Electoral Area, said the workshop was insightful as it offered him and other participants from his area intuition on how they could resolve minor conflicts and long-standing dispute.
“We have been doing our part, but with the strategies and with the skills given to us, I am sure we are going to improve on our peaceful coexistence with the Fulbes, the minority group, and even within ourselves”.
Mr Iddrisu Amadu, a Fulbe, said the workshop had given him and his colleagues’ in-depth knowledge on how they could resolve their internal issues and co-exist with others, adding, “We are grateful for the opportunity, and we look forward to co-existing peacefully”.
Dr Sabina Appiah Boateng, a Lecturer at the Department of Peace Studies of the University of Cape Coast and co-facilitator of the workshop, urged the stakeholders to be cautious of how they handled issues of conflict between groups in order not to escalate it.
