Stakeholders and the youth in the Lambussie District have pledged to champion and lead the crusade against violent extremism in the area.

They said they would be serving as a unified body in promoting peace, and resolving conflict before, during and after the December elections.

They made the pledge in a communiqué after a day’s training workshop organised by the Lambussie District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on its European sponsored, Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) Phase I programme with focus in the eight Regions of Northern Ghana.

The engagement held in Lambussie was aimed at bringing stakeholders and the youth together to form an Inter-Party Dialogue Committees (IPDC) who would serve as unifying bodies to promote peace and resolve conflicts with focus on monitoring and reporting all threats and vulnerabilities relating to violent extremism.

Participants in the meeting included representatives from the Electoral Commission (EC), Political Parties, Lambussie District Assembly, NCCE, CHRAJ, Traditional Authorities, Security Services, Faith Based Organisations, Civic Societies, the media, PWDs, Women and youth groups.

Mr Taalaar Amatus, the  Lambussie District Officer of the NCCE said activities of violent extremism had adversely affected Ghana’s neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso and Niger, adding that it was imperative to train and educate the youth and other stakeholders in the Lambussie district, sharing borders with Burkina Faso.

He highlighted that Ghana had successfully conducted both Presidential and Parliamentary elections eight times in succession and that the peaceful transfer of political power from one ruling party to an opposition party in 2000, 2008 and 2016 had been admired by all.

Mr Amatus stressed a need for every well-meaning citizen to help maintain the country’s democratic credentials to enhance political, economic and social stability.

Mr Victor Nuworkpor, the Upper West Regional Director of the NCCE said the activities of violent extremism groups in the sub-region was a serious security threat to Ghana and that everyone must come on board and be vigilant in the fight against violent extremists activities.

He urged citizens to help avert violence extremism by reporting any suspicious acts or activities before, during and after elections 2024 by resounding the National Security Slogan “If you see something say something”.

Reverend Father Boniface Tawel, the Catholic Priest of St. George’s Parish, Piina speaking in a presentation on Monitoring and Reporting Threats and Vulnerabilities to Violent Extremisms, urged the public especially political party members to respect the right and political beliefs of each other to enable everyone exercise their democratic rights without fear or intimidation or violence. 

“Our differences should not be a source of conflicts but rather a way to constructive dialogue.

Violent extremism in this 2024 elections can be prevented around developing constructive personal group and political relationships across ethnic, religious, class and constituency boundaries” he said.

The deadline for the current restricted voter registration drive cannot be extended, according to the Electoral Commission (EC).

Notwithstanding the technological difficulties that arose during the exercise’s first two days, the Commission reported that everything went smoothly and without any problems after that.

New voter registration was opened by the Commission on May 7, 2024, and it is expected to end on May 27, 2024.

Mr Samuel Tettey, Deputy EC Chair in Charge of Operations, stated during a press conference in Accra on Tuesday that the 21-day duration of the exercise was sufficient.

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He said, unlike the first week of the registration exercise, where large queues were recorded in some registration centres, the numbers had reduced in many registration centres with a week more to the scheduled date for the closure of the process.

Mr Tettey said the Commission’s mobile teams had also been deployed to hard-to-reach areas to enable applicants who may not be able to access the district registration centres to do so.

“This is good enough to cover all difficult areas that the Commission earmarked,” he said.

“We don’t actually think that at this time it is even feasible for anyone to call for an extension,” Mr Tettey added.

Data released by the EC indicate that as of the close of registration on the 13th day of the exercise on Sunday, May 19, 2024, a total of 522,025 new voters had been registered, out of which 446,416 (85.52) are first-time voters between the ages of 18-21.

Out of the total figure, 246,455, representing 47.21 per cent of the registered voters are males and 275,570, representing 52.79 per cent are females.

The EC had targeted registering a total of 623,000 voters by the end of the exercise.

Mr Tettey said a total of 813 persons living with disabilities had been registered across the country.

“The total number of challenged cases across the country stands at 7,821,” he added.

Regional breakdown

The Greater Accra region has registered 74,420 voters (14.3 per cent); North East, 14,147 (2.7 per cent); Upper East, 20,125 (3.9 per cent); Northern, 47, 948 (9.2 per cent); Bono, 20,886 (4.0 per cent); Bono East, 18,861 (3.6 per cent); Volta, 26, 486 (5.1 per cent); Upper West, 15, 652 (3.0 per cent); Eastern, 48,563 (9.3 per cent); Central, 56, 141 (10.8 per cent), and Ahafo, 10, 861 (2.1 per cent).

The remaining registrations are Ashanti, 90,480 (17.3 per cent), Western North; 16, 225 (3.1 per cent); Oti; 14, 844 (2.8 per cent); Savannah 12, 767 (2.4 per cent); and Western Region, 33, 609 (6.4 per cent).

The Commission urged the public to disregard claims by a group called the Election Watch Ghana that alleged that the EC was using “stolen” Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits “to register voters secretly.”

Mr Tettey described the allegations as baseless and explained that five laptops were stolen from the Commission and not BVR kits.

“The five missing laptops on their own cannot be used to register voters,” he said.

If elected president in the next general elections on December 7, John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has promised to modernise the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

According to Mr. Mahama, a cooperative public-private partnership would be established to assist in reviving the country’s struggling oil refinery.

Speaking in Accra at a meeting with stakeholders in the downstream petroleum industry, Mr. Mahama promised to give TOR top priority under his future administration.

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“We need to look again at how we can bring the refinery back in place. But I do think that the problems we have with running that refinery is because it is a state-owned enterprise.

“And we all know the inefficiencies that go with state-owned enterprises. And so we are open to private partnership in terms of bringing that refinery back into operation and running it, but we think that whatever private partnership or private participation is invited, it must come through a transparent process.”