PROTECTING PEACE IN THE NORTH

Page 7: Daily Graphic, May 30, 2012 THE devastating effects of conflict on the socio-economic development on any area are well-known. Apart from the people always living in constant fear, investors never find the place safe to invest, since the returns on their investments cannot be guaranteed. That is why peace is essential for development. The Daily Graphic, in its May 25, 2012 edition, carried a report in which US$320 million allocated to farmers and agricultural and medium-scale enterprises in northern Ghana is sitting idle because the intended beneficiaries are from districts without any community or rural banks. This cannot be the best of news for an area whose people need massive support to get them out of the poverty net. Without a doubt, the Northern Region is undoubtedly one of the political hotbeds of the country. Many a time, when the region is in the news, it is always for the wrong reasons — political, chieftaincy and ethnic violence. It is against this background that the Daily Graphic welcomes the setting up of a Council of Eminent Persons to monitor and oversee the activities of political party players to ensure sanity in this year’s electioneering. Known as the Civic Campaigns Report Council, its members are expected to come up with strategies that will ensure that the Tamale metropolis witnesses very peaceful political campaigns that can lead to incident-free elections in the area and the rest of the Northern Region. We believe the Northern Region will be the greatest beneficiary if the elections there end peacefully without incident. Already, the government, through the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), has initiated a number of projects to boost development and bridge the poverty gap between the north and the south. It is our conviction that peace and stability in the region will attract more investors to the area to support the government’s initiative. The Daily Graphic, therefore, urges political stakeholders in this year’s elections to support the work of the Council of Eminent Persons to ensure that the Northern Region remains calm, peaceful and stable throughout the electioneering. After all, political contest is about the choices political parties offer the electorate. The electioneering should, therefore, be issues-based and not insults We hope the people of the Northern Region will use this platform to redeem the dented image of the region by ensuring peace during and after the presidential and parliamentary polls. Indeed, this initiative should be replicated in the Upper East and Upper West regions, as well as other regions, to help maintain the peace and stability of the country. Already, some of the people seem to be complaining about the monitoring of the peace campaigns, but the Daily Graphic calls for more voices in that regard, so that public opinion will compel all to maintain the peace. Ghana’s development depends, to a large extent, on peace and stability.