Wa, Dec. 26, – Mr Louis Kuukpen,
Assistant Country Director for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),
has said efforts geared towards maintaining peace in the society must be a
sustained process.
A sustained peace process would
ensure people understood and appreciated the importance of peaceful coexistence
among families, communities, tribes and religious groups, he said.
Mr Kuukpen said this during
National Peace Council (NPC)’s “Engagement with Civil Society Organizations
(CSOs) to develop a coordinated strategy for public awareness creation on
election related matters” in Wa.
He said it was for that reason
the UNDP and the European Union (EU) funded the NPC through the “Insider
Mediator Project” to engage in several activities geared towards ensuring peace
during the 2016 General Elections and has since continued the process.
He recognized the roles played by
the National and Regional Peace Councils, Faith Based Organizations, CSOs,
groups and individuals, saying “the fact that the elections was successful was
because individually in our homes, we decided that peace was the right thing to
choose”.
Mr Kuukpen said two of the goals
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were peace and partnership which
were both geared towards ensuring that no one was left behind.
“If there is no peace, there is
no development; where there is peace, there is successful and progressive
development”, he said.
He said one could not have peace
without partnership which is why the UNDP was pleased to be part of the
partnership towards ensuring lasting peace for all.
Mr Justice Agbezuge, Governance
and Peace Analyst for EU, said the engagement aims at reviewing the roles CSOs
played in the lead up to the 2016 elections in order to reposition them better
to strategize towards the upcoming local level elections and the 2020 general
elections.
He said it was also to strengthen
the capacity of local peace actors in Ghana’s peace architecture for them to be
able to mediate ongoing conflicts and prevent potential conflicts from
occurring.
Mr Agbezuge said community and
media engagements, training for the Peace Council staff and the Regional
Election Early Warning and Response Group were some of the activities they
undertook under the three-year “Insider Mediator Project” which started in 2015
and is expected to end in 2018.
Reverend Dr Aloysius Nuolabong,
Chairman of the Upper West Regional Peace Council, commended the UNDP and the
EU for supporting the Peace Council to carry out the project which has
contributed towards the successful elections in 2016.
GNA
Caption: Participants at the
National Peace Council Engagement with Civil Society Organizations
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