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| Northern Regional Minister |
The Northern
Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna has charged the newly
inaugurated Northern Regional Peace Council (NRPC) to avoid any form of
political, ethnic and religious bias in the discharge of their duties during
their tenure of office.
“All of you members either belong to a particular
religion, a particular tribe or a particular sect. Please remove those your caps.
You’re a member of the Regional Peace Council and you must bring your expertise
to bear. I’ll not hesitate to recommend the withdrawal of any member who will
try to use your office in your own interest”, Alhaji Limuna warned as he addressed
the inauguration of the 10-member Council in Tamale.
The Minister also admonished them against interfering
in the work of the police trying to cajole or coerce them to release
perpetrators of crime all in the name of peace, adding that, “as much as we
need peace, fomenters of trouble must be made to face the law so that it will
serve as deterrent to others”, he emphasised.
A Board Member of the National Peace Council (NPC)
Sheik Mahmoud Gedel who swore-in members of the NRPC, charged them to prevent
and reconcile factions involved in conflict in the region in order to promote
peace for sustainable development.
He also urged them to work hard to consolidate the
relative peace in the area and promote national unity, citing that recent
clashes between Bimoba and Konkomba ethnic groupings in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo
District as well as the alleged murder of the overlord of Bimbilla, to some
extent, have derailed successes chalked in peace efforts in the region.
Sheik Gedel told the Council that they have a
responsibility of playing an advisory role to the Northern Regional Security Council
in matters of peacebuilding and conflict prevention as well as educating the
public on the need to cultivate peace.
The NPC was established by an Act of Parliament (Act
818, 2011) with the mandate to facilitate and develop mechanisms for conflict prevention,
management and resolution of disputes to build sustainable peace in the
country. By the end of July, all Regional Peace Councils which are subsidiaries
of the NPC would have been inaugurated.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tamale Most
Reverend Philip Naameh who is a member of the NRPC, said high illiteracy rate,
poverty and underdevelopment of the region and growing perception among some
ethnic groups that others are subservient groups to them are the reasons for
some of the recurring conflicts in the area which ought to be addressed.
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