Minister calls for demolition of political pavilions
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Sam Nasamu Asabigi has called for the demolition of pavilions, round huts and other structures being used by some political party activists in the Region, particularly in the Tamale Metropolis, saying that such places were centres for crime and violence in the area.
He said activists of various political parties had set up some of those pavilions in the Metropolis and other towns to plan and carry out reprisal attacks on opponents.
The Deputy Minister made the call in Tamale on Tuesday during a conference on conflict management and peace building organized by the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO.
It was under the theme; “Conflict management and peace building for poverty reduction: linking practitioners and academia in Ghana”, and brought together stakeholders from diverse fields to deliberate on the ways of resolving conflicts.
Mr. Asabigi said he and the Regional Minister were opposed to the setting up of those structures and called on individuals and groups who fund the erection of such pavilions to put a stop to it.
Mr. Asabigi said there was the need for the Northern Regional Security Committee (REGSEC) and all political parties to come together to table the matter for discussion and to order a complete demolition of such structures since the youth had turned them into grounds for breeding conflict.
The Deputy Minister added that the ritual of intermittent clashes by political activists and chieftaincy litigants in the area was not only a hindrance to socio-economic development but that it also had negative effects on the psychological and moral fibre of the society. “Conflicts have brought untold hardships and destruction to lives and properties”, he said.
Dr. Seidu Al-hassan, Director, Centre for Continuing Education and Interdisciplinary Research at the UDS, observed that there was the need for the use of indigenous methods of resolving conflicts in the country, citing the use of household, family and the extended family systems as some of the means. He noted that such methods must be complemented with other means of conflict management.
He said the current level of peace-building interventions coupled with demands for new and expanded approaches presented a fundamental strategic challenge for the Government and development partners to rethink and refine theories for peace building and conflict resolution.
Dr. Al-hassan said the platform aimed at creating an interface between academicians and practitioners to discuss the current theoretical, practical, internal and external transformations taking place in the field of peace building to secure peace for development.
Source: GNA