Wa, April 27, GNA - Mr Caesar Kale, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to journalists operating in the north to concentra= te on preaching and portraying peace in their reportage to help unite the various feuding factions. He said journalists should serve as agents of change and work hard t= o ensure that they did not inflame passions by what they report on, adding:=

"Let us reduce the too much talk on politics in favour of peaceful co-existence and other developmental issues". He however entreated them to say the good things and successes of th= e north however small they may be to encourage investors and other develope= rs to establish in the area. Mr Kale made the appeal at the launch of the first annual Northern Journalists Awards ceremony in Wa on Monday. The award was initiated by Africa Media Consult for selfless and dedicated journalists working in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions. Mr Kale said there were a lot of development challenges while the regions were endowed with investment opportunities and those should be th= e focus of all, especially journalists. He said information was development and the lack of it was more detrimental to society and advised journalists to play their roles appropriately by mobilising the people to unite and seek peace to enhance=

development. "Let us discharge our duties with a high sense of ethical standards and professionalism to avoid blackmailing and causing confusion and chaos amo= ng the citizenry," he said.

Mr Kale said government had initiated the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to improve on the lot of the people. He however said such efforts would not achieve the desired results i= f conflicts were part and parcel of the daily lives of the people. "Peace is necessary for our development efforts and that is why conflicts in some parts of the North are worrying and should be discouraged," he said.

"If conflicts persist, the north stands the risk of becoming unattractive and losing sympathy from worthy development partners," Mr Ka= le warned. Mr Prince H.M. Tawfik Tikum-Ma, a representative of Africa Media Consult, said the awards were to encourage journalists to bring the succe= ss stories of the north to the negative perception that outsiders had about the north. 27 April 10