“Africa has so many resources but benefits a little. Therefore, it’s time to seek the opinions of the traditional authorities, religious leaders and civil society organ­isations to ensure inclusive and sustainable development.

“In this vein, with the multi-party democracy that most African countries have chosen, it’s imperative to harness its potential for peace and development on the continent,” he said.

Dr Awal made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the 11th edition of the Pan African Leadership, Investment Summit and Honours in Accra, on Friday.

The two-day summit was or­ganised by the United Nations In­ternational Peace and Governance Council of Africa (UNIPGC), on the theme: ‘Peaceful Co-existence and Synergy for African Develop­ment’.

He expressed worry about the insecurity and political upheavals in sub-Saharan Africa, which is re­tarding socio-economic progress, and called on governments to tackle those challenges head-on to ensure peace and development.

Professor Hugh Aryee, the Country Director, of the UNI­PGC, Africa, in his welcome remarks, entreated African governments to always factor the views of the masses into deci­sion-making to enable the chosen multi-party democracy to thrive.

“The masses at the local and national levels should be involved in the governance processes. The multi-party democracy shouldn’t be about elections alone, but a participatory one, where the views of the people are respected,” he said.

Prof. Aryee urged the author­ities to develop the political will and commitment to decouple the security services and election man­agement bodies from the political space and manipulations, without which “we cannot build any strong public institutions run on profes­sional values”.

The Global President of the UNIPGC, Ambassador Dr Jona­than Ojadah, took the opportunity to induct the UNIPGC regional executive and envoys into office to implement the various develop­ment projects.

The UNIPGC is a global civil society organisation established to accelerate peace, good gover­nance and eradication of poverty across the world.

It is also to strengthen governments’ efforts to handle civil and ethnic conflicts and inter-state wars, as well as the negative impacts of civic glo­balisation, terrorism and human rights abuse cases.