President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, has called on leaders to implement programs and initiatives that create opportunities for the youth of the country. This for him will go a long way in tackling conflict and preventing them from all forms of exploitation and dehumanizing conditions in their quest for greener pastures.
Speaking at the official launch and unveiling of the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) 2.0 which was held in Bolgatanga under the theme; “Restoring community life and peace in Ghana and the Sahel region, “Most Rev Naameh expressed concern about the recruitment of over 200 Ghanaian youth by notorious terrorist groups operating in West Africa.
These persons per research are trained and sent back to their communities to practice their religious beliefs and extremism
SPI 2.0 is supported by the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) and would see the church take the lead in organizing and engaging local communities especially conflicting areas in Ghana on the need to restore lasting peace.
Most Rev. Naameh admonished leaders to pay attention to giving the youth hope and endless opportunities such that they do not view leaving Ghana as the only option to a better life.
“If the resources of Ghana are used to build Ghana, it should be so done that every Ghanaian benefit. Especially our youth. If you do it otherwise, you create an environment for our youth to be very vulnerable to terrorist groups because if you don’t create an environment in the country where our youth will always prefer to remain in Ghana rather than take all kinds of risks to go out to where they imagine greener pastures exists, we will always have our youths thinking there are no opportunities for them. So, it is my passionate appeal to the government to so managing the common resources to benefit the country in a way that all benefits, especially our youth. In March terrorist groups came to Ghana and about 200 took them away and train them in this terrorist agenda,” he lamented.
He stressed that government should begin to pay attention to a growing phenomenon of ethnic superiority and put in place regulations to tackle certain utterances that threaten peace and cohesion.
“One of the areas I would like also to comment on in terms of the social condition is our multi-ethnicity. Every ethnic group should understand that no group is superior to the other, “he appealed for the harmonious living among the various ethnic groups.
