Mr. Thomas Issahaku Imoro, the West Mamprusi Municipal Director of the Commission, said the future of the country belonged to the youth and underscored the need for them to desist from activities that had the potential to destroy it.

The Municipal Director gave the advice at Walewale, the Municipal capital in the North East Region when the Commission engaged some youth groups as part of activities on preventing and containing violent extremism in their communities.

The engagement was meant to sensitise the youth on the negative effects of joining extremists’ group and to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the legal frameworks that prohibit the activities of extremists’ groups in Ghana.

The project sponsored by the European Union, was to also instill in them the spirit and values of patriotism and volunteerism so they could grow to become good citizens to their communities and Ghana as a whole.

The Municipal Director explained that countries in which violent extremism had been recorded had suffered loss of lives, destruction of property and had created insecurity in those countries.

He said the youth were mostly recruited to cause such destruction and appealed to them to be responsible and resist any attempt to recruit them to engage in any violent activity.

Superintendent of Police, Mr Cosmos Awe, the West Mamprusi Municipal Police Commander, explained that the security agencies alone could not fight crime in their communities without the involvement of the communities and urged the participants to be on the lookout for miscreants who may want to take advantage of the youth and use them to cause mayhem.

He advised the young people to view security as a shared responsibility and rise above pettiness, differences and help form watchdog committees in their communities to curtail the spillover of violent extremists’ activities into the country.

He urged them to report suspicious activities of strange people to any lawful authority and appealed to the chiefs to desist from interfering in criminal activities being investigated or prosecuted by the police.

Mr. Sally Damma, a Conflict Resolution Practitioner who spoke on the topic “peace building mechanisms and national cohesion,” urged the youth to be lovers of peace and shun all forms of violence and abuses since violence had never resolved any issue.

He charged them to cultivate the spirit of tolerance and togetherness to create harmonious society regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or religion.

He also urged those in authority to pay equal attention to all communities and distribute the national cake equally and handle concerns fairly to ensure that sections of the people did not feel discriminated which could breed conflict.

The engagement brought together representatives of youth groups from the communities of Walewale, Tinguri, Kperiga, Gbani Nayorku and Kata/Banawa.

Also in attendance were youth from the tailors and dressmakers’ association, hairdressers’ association, weavers’ association, metal workers’ association, Ghana Private Road Transport Union, and the Zaabuni Youth for Development.