Violent Clashes: National Peace Council Urges IGP and security agencies to intensify investigations | The Big Stories
#AMShow
#TheBigStories
#myjoyonline
https://www.myjoyonline.com/ghana-news/
Subscribe for more videos just like this:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChd1DEecCRlxaa0-hvPACCw/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joy997fm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Joy997FM
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3J2l57
Click on this for more news:
https://www.myjoyonline.com/
#AMShow
#TheBigStories
#myjoyonline
https://www.myjoyonline.com/ghana-news/
Subscribe for more videos just like this:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChd1DEecCRlxaa0-hvPACCw/
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joy997fm
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Joy997FM
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3J2l57
Click on this for more news:
https://www.myjoyonline.com/
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Thank you for staying with us. We hit the big stories on the AM show and of course
00:05 we do know that the National Peace Council has actually followed with some
00:09 concern the unfortunate violent clashes in some parts of the country on the back
00:13 of which they have issued a statement. They are calling for the Inspector
00:18 General of Police together with the security agencies to do more to
00:21 strengthen their investigations to ensure that we get to the very bottom of
00:25 some of these developments. Well joining us this morning and he's been gracious
00:29 enough to do so though being though being very far away he's joining the
00:33 conversation virtually, Reverend Dr. Ernest Edudjemfi, Chairman of the
00:39 National Peace Council. Rev, thank you so much for joining us this morning on the
00:45 AM show. Doc I think you would have to unmute. I think your connection is still
00:53 muted.
00:58 Right. Yes I think I can hear you now. It's really good to have you join the
01:05 conversation from where you are. Just to situate the conversation this wouldn't
01:10 be the first time that the National Peace Council has come out on the back
01:14 of such happenings but why this time? There have been other things that have
01:18 happened where in recent times we've not heard the National Peace Council come
01:23 out to issue a statement or talk with some level of urgency about it. Why now?
01:30 I think, thank you for your question. For the work of the council we've been very
01:39 active in all these areas. I think I've said on other platforms that currently
01:45 we are dealing with about 300 chief tenancy, tribal and land litigation
01:51 issues across the country. Sometimes we act quietly and so the public
01:57 consistently accuses us that nothing is happening even though we've been working.
02:02 Now we think that there's a need to change our approach a little bit and
02:07 sometimes be a little proactive in terms of some of the things that we're doing.
02:13 In this particular case, all the cases that have been highlighted now either at
02:19 Kintampo in the Gulu region, in Kwanta in the Oti region and the Wanchiki in the
02:24 Northeast. The regional peace councils have been active in those areas working
02:29 constructively to help mitigate some of these things but we must admit that
02:34 sometimes the issue is above just the work of the council. Currently we call on
02:42 the IGP and the security services to intervene and we are aware that there
02:46 have been some interventions in some of those places. Calm has been restored in
02:51 some places but there's a need now for us to look at means to deal with the
02:57 issues that are on hand. That is the reason why we are coming in now to make
03:03 the intervention. I see and when you look at the different pockets of issues that
03:09 we have had from Kintampo to Wanchiki and all of these developments, how do
03:15 they strike you? Obviously you have your finger on the pulse of what has been
03:21 happening but do these strike you as creating even more of an urgent
03:26 situation that has to be nipped in the bud? I think it's a very urgent situation.
03:33 As I said, there are pockets of issues across the country and while we're
03:38 dealing with some of these things and trying to negotiate through them, other
03:43 issues come up and so it takes the attention of the ones we're working on,
03:47 we focus on these things to bring stability. Then we have to go back and
03:51 deal with some of these other issues. What we need now is collective effort of
03:56 our whole country. We need the media to support us, we need the chieftain's
04:00 institution to support us, the Ministry of Religious Affairs. We need everybody
04:05 to come on board to help us because most of these issues are tribal conflicts, the
04:11 interpretation of ancestral laws have not been done the way they ought to be
04:16 done so people are coming in, rewriting history, creating new boundaries and
04:20 these are critical issues confronting the country and we have to collectively
04:25 find a way to deal with it. Now the National Peace Council is doing its bit
04:31 in this respect but specifically referring to these issues, what is the
04:37 footprint of the National Peace Council? I mean when it comes to Wanjiki for
04:41 example, when it comes to Kintampo, what have you been doing in these places
04:45 before and now on the back of these latest developments? In the Kintampo
04:52 issue, the more conflict we've been there for the last two, three years talking
04:59 with people, trying to find a way out. The Regional Peace Council is actively
05:04 working in there but you know issues of religion, issues of tribe, issues of
05:13 ethnicity are critical issues when it comes to peace building. Once you touch
05:18 any of those areas, people react violently and that is why we keep
05:24 telling the country don't get into religious conflict, don't get into tribal
05:27 conflict, don't get into ethnic conflict. These are things that touches the soul
05:31 and the lives of people and so when you get into some of those areas, people
05:35 react violently and there's a need for us to keep drumming this hope that finding
05:42 ethnicity, finding tribal conflict, finding religious conflicts will not help us
05:47 as a people and we need to do everything we can to stop these things as much as possible.
05:52 There are so many pockets of worrying developments. You can talk about
05:59 Boku, you can talk about in recent times we had other skirmishes, the specific
06:06 place in the Northern Belt doesn't come to mind but I remember I'll get to it
06:10 where in fact there was that reprisal from the military where national
06:16 security officers were attacked, shot at even when they had gone into a police
06:20 station and then the security officials, specifically the military, went
06:26 there and brutalized a number of them, whipping, beating and all of that. I'll
06:31 just try to recall the area but there appears to be in many pockets of
06:36 not just the Northern Belt, different parts of the country, worrying trends of
06:40 people being armed, armed to the teeth in some instances, sometimes even spilling
06:47 over into armed robbery, making our roads very unsafe when traveling certain
06:52 portions including the Kintampo stretch. When you look at all of these in the
06:58 context of the wider problem of the sub-region, insurgency, terrorism, look at
07:04 the countries surrounding us and look at the coup d'etats that have happened, how
07:08 then do you situate this latest release from the Peace Council and the
07:13 happenings within Ghana? Thank you very much. I think the issue of
07:19 the proliferation of small arms is a very serious issue in our country. If you look at the
07:26 number of arms that are in homes and in the hands of the youth, it is a very
07:31 worrying situation and that is what is spilling up into all of these things and
07:36 some of our research in the north, in the past most young people would want to get
07:41 a bicycle or motorbike, anything that has come to a certain level of status. Now
07:47 it's not motorbikes, it's guns. So everybody is trying to buy a gun and
07:51 that is a very worrying situation for our country with so many young people
07:55 holding guns across the country that that leads to these things. So with the
08:00 least provocation, somebody picks up arms and starts shooting. So we have to do
08:05 collectively everything we can to stop these things and bring them to some
08:11 level of control as much as we can. I think that everybody is needed as far as
08:17 this whole project is concerned. In terms of collaborative work, because you're
08:23 calling on the Inspector General of Police, the Police Service, among others,
08:28 to put their foot down, what exactly do you want to see done? Well I think that
08:38 in terms of guns, there's a need to find some regulation. Are these guns registered?
08:45 Where are they coming from? Who is selling them? And why is it so easy for
08:50 people to lay hands on these things? These are issues that I believe the
08:55 police must come in to help us. Maybe the immigration services may have to also
09:00 up their game in terms of border controls and how they search through
09:05 these things. Because there are too many of them coming in and sometimes, especially
09:08 in the Boko area, when you see the kind of arms that people are holding, it's frightening.
09:12 Sometimes they outgun our security services. The arms, the ammunition they
09:16 wield is far more sophisticated than what our security services have at their
09:21 disposal. That's correct and it's a very worrying situation and I think we have
09:26 to do everything we can to control this because if we get to a certain point and
09:30 especially the young people get into the streets and start firing, it's going to be
09:34 a very critical issue for the country. And we all have to do everything we can.
09:38 First, educate the people. We've been having this conversation across the
09:43 country on preventing violent extremism. We've done as much as we can. We're still
09:49 doing them, even though resource to do some of these things is sometimes a constraint
09:53 for us. But I think that these are things that we have to keep pushing across the
09:58 country to ensure that people understand that there's a need to talk and resolve
10:02 problems instead of resorting to firearms. Now, I mean, I spotted a video on one of
10:07 my platforms recently where, I do not think it's Ghana, but it could be along
10:12 the border or something, a neighboring country, where someone was smuggling
10:17 ammunition or arms in beans, you know, so it's been put in a sack and everything.
10:23 And you have AK-47s, you have the magazines, you have all of that in there.
10:27 The sub-region is becoming a hotbed for terrorist activity. You've spoken about
10:33 the police service and what you expect of them, but they also have their own
10:37 resource challenges. I noticed yesterday also they put out another batch of
10:43 cadets that are just, you know, I don't know, been recruited or graduated in
10:48 recent times, and it created quite a bit of a standstill around that area. But the
10:53 point I want to make is, on the bit about small arms and light weapons, the
10:59 Commission in Ghana has over the years, even there was a point where they allowed,
11:04 they gave an amnesty that, look, if you have arms and all of that, bring them, let
11:09 bygones be bygones. We will not prosecute, there'll be nothing of that sort. Very few
11:14 people, from what I remember, took them in. But when you look at the statistics, the
11:18 proliferation of small arms and light weapons, and especially in the Northern
11:23 Belt, the predictions or statistics about those who likely have them, it is a
11:28 great cause for concern. In that regard, what is the National Peace Council doing?
11:34 How are you collaborating with the Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission to
11:38 sanitize the system? Because like it or not, next year is an electoral year.
11:43 Usually around this time there'll be a lot of skirmishes. We have banned these,
11:49 what do you call them, vigilante groups, but under there some of them are still
11:53 extant. I mean, how do we, how are you thinking around all these issues? In
11:59 terms of the small arms, we are fortunate to have the chair of the
12:05 Small Arms Commission being a member of the Peace Council Board. And so that
12:10 gives us access to a lot of information as to what is happening in those areas.
12:15 We will keep on with our Preventing Violent Extremism training. As I said,
12:21 currently we are working with some of our partners to raise the needed funding
12:26 to deal with some of these issues. Last Friday we met with a team from the US
12:31 and talked to them about the support that we need to get some of these
12:36 training programs and activities done. So we're doing the best we can to raise
12:40 the resources we need to get our work done. But it's a very difficult
12:45 situation for us because dealing with over 300 cases across the country and
12:50 then leading to the next election, it becomes a very worrying situation. Whilst
12:57 we're dealing with this, then you have the political issues coming in. That
13:00 keeps its own distractions. And it's a very critical situation for us. And so
13:06 we're calling on everybody to help us. And as much as possible, even community
13:11 leaders who can talk to people should intervene in some of these cases.
13:16 Sometimes we have assemblymen and others in those communities who can also talk
13:20 to people to lay down their arms and talk and resolve issues. Festivals have
13:26 become an issue. If you look at the Nkwanta case and some of these other,
13:30 just a celebration of a festival becomes a problem. And these are things that I
13:35 believe communities can sit and talk and resolve. You have your festival
13:39 this time, we'll have our festival this time. But why would we want to have a festival
13:43 all of us within the same time period? So these are critical issues confronting us.
13:49 And we will keep on doing whatever we can with our training programs, with our
13:54 intervention programs, empowering our regional councils as much as possible to
13:58 get into some of those areas and do the best we can to minimize the conflicts.
14:03 Now speaking of same, especially as the electoral time beckons, I mean it's
14:11 started already. The two major political parties have their flag bearers and
14:15 they've already hit the ground running as far as campaigning. Dr. Baumeier is on
14:20 his thank-you tour. Former President Mahama has been touring the nation
14:24 talking about the plans he has for the country should he get re-elected. But
14:29 have you started engaging the political parties yet? These are sparks that we are
14:33 seeing already. Have you started engaging the political parties ahead of the next
14:38 election, the electoral cycle? There's a very serious engagement going on. In fact we
14:43 should have had that meeting last Monday but it's been shifted to the 14th of
14:47 December. I hope you recall that immediately after the election, the last
14:53 election, we convened at Adan and brought together all the players, the election
14:59 spades, for a four-day dialogue. And after that dialogue there was a communique and
15:05 a roadmap that was drawn. Some activities were assigned to various groups to deal
15:09 with. We're calling another conference on the 14th of December to bring all these
15:14 parties together and review the decisions that were made during the
15:20 Adan conference, the activities that were assigned, where are we? And so all the
15:25 political parties will be there. Peace Council will be there, the Electoral
15:28 Commission, the representative from the Chief Justice, all of us are going to be
15:33 there to talk about what we've done, the steps that we've taken, the way
15:38 forward and how we anticipate that the campaigning and election processes is
15:45 going to look like next year. So we are already working along with all the
15:50 players to ensure that there's stability in the country. In terms of competition,
15:56 we know sometimes it can be rough. What the Peace Council is insisting is that
16:01 let's compete but let us remember that we have to keep the peace of our country
16:06 together. In terms of your work dealing with the political parties, some people
16:12 often say we go to sleep until another electoral cycle beckons. Is that really
16:18 the case? I think it's a wrong perception. This year we've had quarterly meetings
16:25 with the political parties. We've had two already and the third one we missed it
16:29 because we couldn't find the funding but we're doing this other one, bringing them
16:33 all together again to discuss the issues. And I think that what we do these things
16:38 it helps. We had a dialogue again in Pram Pram between all the political
16:43 parties and the security services. It was a very wonderful experience for us to be
16:48 there for three days, the political parties talking to security services, how they feel
16:52 about them, the security services talking to them about how they feel. At the end of the day
16:56 the parties came to us and said look Chairman can you organize this thing for
17:00 all our regions for us. We're looking for the funding. If we can find it we will do
17:05 it across the region to ensure that political parties and security services
17:09 understand themselves and play the game the way it ought to be played and not
17:13 run the country down. Speaking of which, you just mentioned funding. What's the
17:19 situation like for the National Peace Council? I know I may be digressing
17:22 slightly but I just would like to find out because that will also determine
17:27 whether you're able to do your work as you would want to do it or whether there
17:31 is any you know there are any hurdles that impinge on your work. So what's the
17:36 situation like? How do you even get funding? I'm sure some people will be
17:40 curious about your work. Well it's the government that's the main financier of
17:45 the of the council and they give us they pay all our staff excluding board
17:50 members because as we keep saying that board members are not on salary and they
17:55 provide us some money for goods and services which is inadequate in terms of
17:59 our work. Now the council's work is so fluid that we wish we could have been
18:05 resource like the the security what we call it national security where okay as
18:16 soon as something happens you are ready to move. You look at the three cases that
18:20 are on hand now. Immediately we need resource to move across the country and
18:25 we need emergency funding. That was why we set up the Peace Fund to help us to
18:30 find a resource to do some of these things. But we haven't had the support that we
18:35 need. Most of our support now in terms of our activities comes from donors. We have
18:42 the US Embassy, the Danish Embassy, the UNDP who are main support and all these
18:47 groups coming in. Now we are trying to reach even to World Bank to see if we
18:52 can find some some some support from there. You know so we need an emergency
18:57 funding. Something that something happens in Gwanta. You see the Peace Council
19:01 immediately the Regional Peace Council is there and sometimes you're bringing
19:04 board members together. They come from different places. You have to find a
19:08 hotel for them. You provide accommodation. You provide transportation. You have to
19:12 feed them. And negotiation in terms of conflict doesn't end in a day. You
19:17 keep going to some of those places. So we we want to appeal to the public
19:22 especially to the business community that let us support the Peace Fund
19:27 because it's in the realm of peace that you can run business. This is the realm
19:31 of peace that we can have our hospitals operating. The realm of peace that our
19:34 market women can go to the market. And everybody must help us to get things
19:39 done the way it ought to be done. So we appeal to the public. Let's all
19:43 contribute to the Peace Fund so that the National Peace Council can work the way
19:48 we ought to work. You speak about... When we met with the US delegation on Friday we told them the same
19:53 thing. That donors are not ready to give money for situations like that because
19:58 they want to sponsor projects. Let's say we want to do a program for tertiary
20:02 students. They'll give us money. Want to do something in the secondary school.
20:05 They'll give us money. But you will talk about having money on hand that you can
20:09 easily deploy. That becomes an issue. But those are the concerns that we do have
20:14 now. That we need that emergency response fund to run the Peace Council so that as
20:21 soon as something happens and you call on the Peace Council, immediately we can
20:24 deploy our members to the situation to deal with that. But would it not also be
20:28 about convincing these bodies that whatever sums of money they are going to
20:33 donate will actually be put into the specific use? I know many of these bodies
20:40 when they donate, the major concern is, is it going to be appropriated elsewhere?
20:46 Or is it going to be used specifically? Crossing the T's and dotting the I's.
20:51 Where it's supposed to be used. Those are concerns and I feel if you were able to
20:56 convince them, they just might be ready to support. Because peace in the South
21:01 is already very... It's sitting on pins and needles right now. Don't you think that's
21:07 an area maybe that has not been properly addressed? Well for donors, their concern
21:14 is that they don't want to give money to a governmental institution as it were.
21:20 Because they feel that once they give the money, the government will have
21:24 control over the money. So now we've been convincing them that we have the
21:28 peace fund which is under our control, which does not go to the government. And I
21:33 think when we met with the US delegation, they understood that. You know, it's a
21:38 very critical situation for us to convince people that look, we need this
21:43 sense. And like all of us are crying. I mean if you go to Boko now, business is
21:48 already closed. There's nothing that can be happening there. The Kintampo situation,
21:52 the Ekweta situation, all these things are coming up. Virtually you find
21:56 businesses... If you find a place like Kintampo, hit seriously. That is the
22:01 center of our country where goods and services are coming from the north,
22:05 moving from south to the north, are crossing to Burkina and all those places.
22:09 So there's a need to bring stability to that belt to ensure that the country can
22:14 find peace and do the things that we ought to do. In terms of managing our
22:20 resources, for all our donors, we have accounted to them perfectly and nobody
22:25 has raised any query about any money that have been given to the Peace
22:29 Council. And we keep giving them that promise and that is why we keep getting
22:33 funding for some of the programs that we've been doing. And most of these
22:36 programs we run on violent extremism, they've all been funded by donors from
22:40 outside. But we sometimes we think that it is not good enough for us as a
22:44 country because once the project is done, you have to write a report. And to us, it
22:49 gives an impression. I see by the time we finish each project, we've given all the
22:53 information about our country to donors, which to us is not the best. So there's a
22:57 need for Ghanaians to see the need to support the National Peace Council to
23:02 get our work done. What has that drive been like as far as the Peace
23:07 Council, the Peace Fund is concerned? How many Ghanaians or Ghanaian entities have
23:13 contributed in the past? Can you give us an idea of the stark disparity, if
23:18 there is, between what our foreign donors give and what we have given? Well, if you
23:23 compare to what the foreign donors have given, it's nothing to write home
23:29 about because we launched this about two years ago. So far, all the money we have is
23:33 around 290,000 Ghana cities. And that is not enough. Even for that...
23:39 Is that both from corporate Ghana individuals? Yes, everybody. I mean, that's
23:45 not enough. I mean, if we take up one activity, that money is gone. But we've
23:49 just decided to put an investment, we are just keeping it there for now because we
23:53 want to add to it so that once we start deploying, we know exactly what we are
23:58 doing. So, I mean, if you look at some of the projects the donors gave, the
24:05 Valentine's Day program that we ran, the last election, we did this across all the
24:09 constituencies. We're in every constituency. You know, this election, we plan to do the
24:14 same once we find the funding to do that. The training programs we've had for the
24:18 tertiary institution leaders, we did one in Elmina, we did one in Kumasi, and all of
24:24 these things have been funded by donors. And now we are in the secondary schools
24:27 trying to teach them about violent extremism and how to control themselves,
24:31 especially when students finish their exams and they are burning school cars and
24:35 burning this and breaking all of those. There's a need for us to be in all these
24:39 areas. But to do that, you need the funding to deploy easily. Now, let's go back to
24:46 the hardcore bits about Nkwanta, Kintampo and Wanjiki. You look at these
24:53 developers, you've said you're collaborating with the police. In fact,
24:56 you are asking them, calling upon them to swiftly deal with these matters. Which
25:02 other entities are you collaborating with in that respect? Because there are
25:06 chieftaincy angles to this. There are traditional angles to some of what we
25:13 are seeing. For example, in the case of the festival, and you can do this and you
25:16 can't do that, and all of that. So which other entities are you collaborating
25:20 with on these or in these latest issues that have popped up to bring some peace
25:27 to these areas? Well, the first group we are dealing with is the regional security
25:33 councils, because they are on the ground and they are the first to deal with the
25:38 situation to bring stability. Once there's stability, there's some level of
25:44 security within the area, it makes our work easier. So then we can go in and
25:50 start talking. But in the situation that we have on our hands now, we need the
25:55 Lands Commission, we need the Ministry for Religious and Chieftaincy Affairs to
26:00 come along with us, and then we need also the judiciary to come along with us.
26:04 Because some of these things, some of the cases have been in court for years, and
26:08 they are not resolved. So the people keep fighting. So there must be some
26:14 resolution, and then also maybe after these court cases, there might be some
26:20 group probably to continue to talk to them and provide some ADR in between
26:25 for people to understand themselves. Because they are talking about history,
26:29 and many of us were not there when all these things started. And when people
26:33 reconstruct history and they are not done properly, that is the mess in which
26:38 we find ourselves now. Now many other thoughts come to mind, but I want to run
26:44 this by you. Peace anywhere hinges on a number of factors. One thing that is
26:50 crystal clear is that our leadership tends to focus on regime security or
26:57 national security from the standpoint of militarization or military operations,
27:02 security, intel, and all of that. But some crucial aspects of our security, in fact
27:07 probably the most crucial one now, is what many call human security. Are you
27:13 providing the right environment for business to thrive? Are you providing the
27:18 right environment for people to live out their lives in dignity, to have that
27:23 enjoyability, if you like, of the life that they live? If you look at the
27:27 economic situation, if you look at everything else that is happening in
27:31 Ghana, then you would see a certain picture. My question then is, are you as
27:37 a Peace Council also shifting, paying attention to the human security? Because
27:42 once that goes out the window, chaos ensues. So while we take care of security
27:48 a la Ghana Police Service and all of that, how about the things that people
27:53 need? Because if someone has what he or she needs, the basics, they don't want to
27:58 risk that to put the nation in turmoil. But when they don't have it, then they
28:03 sometimes become, I don't know what word to use, but they want to risk it all
28:08 because they think, after all, what? So how are you addressing that angle to this
28:13 peace crisis we are facing? Thank you. In the first place, I think they, if you look
28:19 at the national security architecture now, the Peace Council was placed in the
28:25 center of it because I think that the designers looked at the fact that it's
28:30 not only how security that can keep our country safe, but we need the
28:34 sub-security. And that is the role we play. The unfortunate thing is that the
28:39 resourcing of the Council to do the work hasn't been the way we had anticipated
28:45 or the way it worked out. And that is what creates the difficulty that we're in.
28:49 But again, we have also drawn the attention of government to, especially
28:55 the critical issue of youth employment. It's been on our lips, we've been talking
28:59 about it all over, and I think everybody is aware of it. That if we don't deal
29:03 with these issues, it's going to create a big problem for us. Sometimes we keep
29:07 telling the youth that when politicians come to you and they are talking about
29:10 "vote for me" and all, ask simple questions. What are you going to do in terms of youth
29:16 employment? What is your plan? We should ask those particular
29:20 questions and determine what are they going to do to ensure that these things
29:23 come to an end. But sometimes we just follow them and they keep talking and
29:28 everybody is running around. At the end of the day, we don't know where we are. So
29:32 dealing with human security is a very critical issue. I was doing one interview
29:38 and someone was asking me about other people who are trying to go abroad now. I keep
29:43 telling them that look, it's not that easy being abroad. We know the risk people
29:47 are going through, we know the difficulties, and yet they keep doing it
29:51 because they think that there's something else where that they can find.
29:54 Everybody's trying to run away. So there's a need for us to deal with human security.
29:58 How do we provide shelter? How do we provide food for our people? How do we
30:01 provide the environment for our people to walk around freely and easily and to
30:06 do what they ought to do? I think that everybody in this country must come on
30:11 board to help us to make this a reality. I would like to find out then, going into
30:18 2024, which is an electoral year, you've already told me about some of what you've
30:22 started doing as a Peace Council, but do you have a clear strategy in terms of
30:27 other activities, if you could walk us through them, ahead of election 2024 that
30:31 you'll be bringing to bear to maintain the peace that we enjoy as a country?
30:36 Well, we will roll out the normal programs that we do, beginning from January.
30:42 We'll be doing our regional programs, district programs, and ensure that we
30:47 educate people to maintain peace in the midst of the campaigning all around.
30:52 Those things will continue to be done. We've done some training for the GPRG.
30:58 We'll continue with that. We've done training for our fisher folks. We'll keep doing that.
31:03 We've done training for the Queen Mothers and market women. We will keep doing some
31:09 of these and the same thing that we've done for the youth. But generally for
31:12 elections, we've always had early warning groups that start meeting from January.
31:17 We meet every month and that's a group that brings together key players within
31:22 the political space to strategize as to how to handle the election.
31:28 And then it culminates into the situation room during the week of the
31:32 election. So all those plans are on the table and beginning January, all these
31:38 years will be rolled out. In terms though of the MPC's work in this regard, you notice for
31:45 example that many of our schools from the tertiary level to even very basic
31:50 levels are being infiltrated so to speak with politics in different ways.
31:55 Some of them very palpable, others not so clearly seen, but they are there.
32:02 Are you tackling the school angle or the educational angle? Because it's what
32:06 makes it interesting for me. You go to places like Cuba and there is yes some
32:10 propaganda but there's a certain mindset taught to children right from the start.
32:15 I'm asking whether maybe we shouldn't be tackling the problem from that end very
32:21 early so that these children get to know what is at stake rather than fall
32:26 victim to MPP/NDC politics. Yes, we've already done that. We start from last
32:34 year we did one training for the tertiary institution leaders. We brought them from
32:41 all the schools. We had two programs, one for the south, one for the north.
32:44 Currently we are working in some of the secondary schools as well, teaching them
32:50 what it means to stay away from violent extremism and all of that. We will keep
32:55 doing these things but we think that if we're able to go down to the level of
33:00 the youth, help them to understand these things, it will be very helpful to us.
33:05 Even in our next engagement with the political parties, we are asking
33:10 all of them to bring some of their youth leaders to these meetings because they
33:14 must understand some of these. If you bring the top people, they come in and
33:18 talk and leave, then the young people don't even understand what is going on.
33:22 We are going to have all these agitations. So we are now looking at how
33:26 do we come down to the level of the young people, help them to understand
33:30 what it means to keep the peace of our country. We hope that we will make
33:36 some progress in terms of this adventure. Right, finally took up of the
33:42 conversation and this is quite a digression but I'd like you to find with
33:45 all the sentiment that has been shared on the National Cathedral, especially as
33:51 you're talking about funding for the National Peace Council that is not
33:54 exactly coming through. What do you think of that project at this point in time in
34:00 respect of our IMF program and the economic difficulties we're facing?
34:05 We've had talk from some of the board members that we should go full steam
34:09 ahead. It's the support that hasn't come through but what do you make of it?
34:13 Before I let you bring through your final words on what we've been
34:16 discussing. Well I think that that responsibility rests on the board. They've
34:25 already told us that they will find the money to do it. If they can find the money, if
34:30 they can find it from whichever source they can. Probably saving the country
34:34 from going back into our budget for some of these monies. They can go ahead
34:39 and do their project. As far as I'm concerned it adds to the infrastructure of our
34:44 country if we can do it. It can add to tourism, it can raise funds for the
34:48 country. I've been to the National Bible Museum in Washington DC. But do we need it at a point in
34:55 time like this with all the resources, the resource constraints we are facing?
35:00 Right now because we've not got the 600 million from the IMF we're on the ropes
35:03 again. Now what I said is if the board can find the money from wherever without
35:09 inflicting any pain on our budget then that is their prerogative.
35:15 Sometimes we may find donors who may be willing to do that. If they can negotiate
35:19 for some of those things. But that is the work they've been assigned to do. So we'll
35:23 leave them to see what they can do. But they must also listen to the
35:27 concerns of Ghanaians and especially the period in which we are. But
35:33 somebody told me that leaders are chosen to solve problems. And so they have a
35:37 problem, they must solve it. And it is for them to find that means to deal with that.
35:42 Your final words Reverend Edwidge Mphi. All these matters we've been
35:48 discussing this morning. The way forward. We've had two meetings the past week. One
35:56 with a delegation from Sierra Leone, Gambia and Zambia. Then we had another
36:04 delegation from the US. In both meetings the first delegation was an African
36:11 delegation told us that we are here to listen to you to see what you are doing.
36:15 If Ghana fails, Africa has failed. In our meeting with the US team they said the
36:23 same thing. We are here because we think that if Ghana fails, Africa has failed.
36:28 Everybody is looking up to Ghana because they think that we provide stability
36:33 and peace. And it's important for us as a country to see what others see about us.
36:39 Protect the peace we have. Live like one people with one nation. And I think that
36:47 that is my appeal to all Ghanaians. There is something good in our country even
36:52 though it is not perfect. Let us all work on it. Work towards achieving the goals
36:58 that we have set ourselves. Live in peace with one another. And certainly we can
37:03 enjoy what we have as a people. Well thank you very much Reverend Edwidge Mphi
37:09 for joining the conversation this morning and for the fantastic work that
37:13 you're doing. I think I'll also add my voice to yours for those who can and all
37:18 of us can even in our smallest ways make a donation to the kitty of the National
37:24 Peace Fund. Let us do so. Just in passing though for those who may want to
37:28 contribute how can they do it? Unfortunately I don't have the information on hand
37:33 because of where I am now. Okay. But I think I will ask Isaiah to pass on the
37:39 information so that if you can put it out for us we'll be grateful. Thank you
37:43 very much sir for joining the conversation. And again we deeply
37:46 appreciate it. We know how tight you are but you made the time to interact with
37:49 us this morning and wish you the very best in your work. That's Reverend Dr.
37:54 Ernest Edwidge Mphi, Chairman of the National Peace Council. Especially it's
37:58 been on the back, this conversation on the back of what has happened in Nkwanta
38:01 in the Oti region, Kintampo in the Bono area and of course Wanchiki
38:07 in the Upper East region and those developments there. We'll
38:12 keep our finger on the pulse of these matters and bring you the latest on them
38:16 on the show and in our subsequent bulletins. But the second deed Takara
38:23 Day Metropolitan Assembly is on a drive to rid the metropolis of filth and open
38:28 defecation. According to the Assembly over a thousand four hundred households
38:32 in the SDMA do not have toilet facilities forcing 702 households to
38:38 resort to open defecation. Now you know the situation of that. How as a country
38:42 we've tried to actually eradicate open defecation, its health implications, its
38:47 implication on our country's kitty. Well the Assembly is partnering Joy News on
38:53 this campaign. We have more on that up next on the AM show.
38:59 [Music]
39:17 [Music]
39:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]