Avoid making foul religious and tribal comments -Lawra NCCE Director 

The Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West Region, Mr Jesurun Ninge Mornah has advised the public to avoid making foul religious and tribal comments that had a tendency to fuel dissentions and violence.
He said unfavourable comments against people’s religion, tribe, culture and tradition which were tied to their identity, incited violence and therefore cautioned against the use of uncouth language to denigrate such social groupings.
The director made this known at a meeting by the Commission at the Brifoh Senior High School in the municipality to engage the students on violent extremism and counter terrorism and to also launch the Constitutional Week celebration in the municipality.
The engagement meeting formed part of efforts by the NCCE to create awareness on preventing and containing violent extremism under the European Union’s supported Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism Project (PCVE) by the NCCE.
“Religious, tribal and political issues are dear to the hearts of people so if they are not handled properly, they can degenerate into internal conflicts and attract extremists into the country because these are a group of people who are already peeved and feel they have not been treated right so they are tempted to join any force that promises to restore their dignity in society”, he elaborated.
In addition, Mr Mornah said issues such as environmental degradation that pushed herdsmen to settle in other countries, unemployment and nepotism as well as poverty, among others were some of the drivers of violent extremism.
The director suggested that communities created community-based surveillance groups to closely monitor activities of people and promptly report suspicious characters to appropriate authorities.
He also advised that there was the need for the use of peace building strategies to quell internal conflicts so that they did not serve as breeding grounds for extremist to recruit aggrieved persons into their scheme.
The Director used the opportunity to remind the students of the need to adhere to the constitution of the nation and to ensure that they did not flout it under any circumstance.
One of the facilitators at the meeting, Mr John Bosco Bedi, the Lawra Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) was more concerned about the exuberance of the youth recently and encouraged them to channel their energy to lucrative ventures and not into conflicts and violence.
He mentioned that extremist groups played on the vulnerability of the youth, particularly in the face of unemployment and low income to get them to join their cause and advised them to avoid juicy offers with huge financial benefits from unknown persons.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, LAWRA