“As a region bordering these parts of the Sahel region, some of our communities have been inundated with immigrants especially from neighbouring Burkina Faso. Some of these communities are Sapeliga, Baase, Jentiga No. 2 in the Bawku West District, Binduri District and Bawku Municipality.”
The Upper East Region Minister, Stephen Yakubu said this when he spoke at the launch of the Sahel Peace Initiative 2.0 in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional capital.
The SPI is a peace project implemented by the Catholic Church with funding support from the Catholic Relief Services.
SPI 2.0 is aimed at creating awareness on threats of terrorism, promote social cohesion through advocacy and build the resilience of communities affected by conflicts in the Subregion.
Through the project, relevant stakeholders would be brought together to raise conflict resolution responses. The project is coordinated by the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) and implemented by the Navrongo Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO), a faith development organization.
While these immigrants have been given some initial support by the Municipal and District Assemblies, there needs to be a more coordinated effort by stakeholders.
“Some initial relief support from the Assemblies has been extended to the victims. There is the need for a comprehensive support programme to address the needs of both the immigrants and their dependents, which I believe this programme seeks to address.”
The government, according to the Upper East Regional Minister is however not relenting on its oars in the attempt to continue to keep Ghana safe from extremism.
“Putting measures in place to prevent the jihadists from entering is equally crucial. As a result, government through the Ministry of Defence has established and equipped FOBs across our border to help the military swiftly respond to any external hostilities as a result of the increased terrorists and extremist organisations in parts of the sahel region.”
“Our security agencies have since shown determination to adhere to their constitutional mandate of protecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country against any form of aggression. Consequently, we have come out with a slogan, See Something, Say Something, as part of efforts to sensitize our communities of the violent extremists groups.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
