A pastor of the Church of Pentecost in the Wa West District, Reverend Alfred Assih, has

appealed to the youth not to use violence to express their grievances but direct them to the appropriate authorities.

He asked them to take violent extremism seriously since such an activity could derail the peace, unity, harmony and cohesion of the country.

Rev. Assih, who made the appeal at a District Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting in Wechiau, said it was the responsibility of citizens to help protect the country’s security.

It was organised by the Upper West Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security to educate and sensitise Ghanaians on the need to assist and support the security agencies safeguard the country’s security.

“All nations develop well with peaceful coexistence and participation inclusion and the citizenry should not chose violence to express their grievances because such negative action retrogressed and derailed both human and infrastructural development,”Rev. Assih observed.

Patience Sally Kumah, the Upper West Regional Director of NCCE, in a speech delivered on her behalf, explained that the Commission together with the Ministry of interior were both worried about the violent activities of extremist groups across Africa, hence the implementation of the project.

According to her, the project sought to create awareness, educate and sensitise among stakeholders for them to understand some of the threats violent extremism posed to the country and urged participants to help sensitise and educate their groups, families and communities to report suspected characters to community leaders.

Edwin Aasoyir, the Wa West District Immigration Commander, advised Ghanaian landlords to endeavour to report immigrants renting accommodation from them to the appropriate security agencies to enable proper screening and monitoring of their activities.

He called on citizens to make it a duty to help police the country’s borders from the influx of immigrants to safeguard the interest of the nation.

Nuredeen Mumuni, the Wa West District Director of NCCE, cautioned the youth of political parties to be circumspect about how they discussed politics in the media landscape and admonished them to see themselves as development competitors with the good interest of the nation at heart. -GNA