Youth in the Lawra Municipality in the Upper West Region have been tasked to assist security personnel to identify suspicious per­sons in society for immediate action in order to prevent violent extremism in the area and the country at large.

The Acting Municipal Commander of the Immigration Service at Lawra, As­sistant Superintendent (AS) Alex Zinzer stated that the youth should not neglect pertinent issues that came to their attention as they interacted with other people since this could lead to the discovery of suspicious characters.

He said this at a youth engagement meeting organised by the Nation­al Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on preventing and containing violent extremism aimed at building the capacity of the youth on violent extremism.

The essence of the meeting was to deepen patriotism and national cohe­sion among the youth in the Munici­pality and beyond in the fight against violent extremism and to also create awareness among the youth on the increase of violence in neighbouring countries.

The Officer said community surveil­lance through watch committees was one of the ways to ensure that suspi­cious people were detected.

He defined surveillance as “carefully watching and observing a person or a place in relation to crime and other suspicious activities”.

“In surveillance, people are able to identify how others act and behave and what they are trying to hide; there is, therefore, the need for public cooperation to help identify criminals and suspicious characters in the society through community surveillance”, he said, and urged the youth to be ready to assist the security personnel to do their work very well by reporting suspicious acts to them.

A Secretary with the Assemblies of God Church at Lawra, Elder Samuel Dapila on his part defined peace build­ing as “the implementation of mea­sures intended to create and sustain peace, especially in areas affected by conflicts.”

“Peace seeks to address the under­lying causes of conflict, helping people to resolve their differences peacefully and laying a foundation to prevent future violence”, he said.

Speaking on community-based ap­proaches to peace building, Mr Dapila encouraged traditional leaders to use the traditional justice system together with committees in the communities to address conflicts.

For his part, the Municipal Director of the Commission, Mr Jesurun Mornah Ninge noted with concern the menace of violent extremism across the globe and said it had caused the loss of lives and properties with its attendant problems of poverty and retardation of development.

He advised the participants to be vigilant in dealing with suspicious people who appeared friendly on the surface but with the intention to lure them into the act of violence and extremism.

 From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa