Mr. Francis Azuimah, National Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, has appealed to the Youth not to allow self-seeking politicians to derail their unfinished business in life.

He said young people had a lot to achieve in life, and that politicians were elected to bring about peace and development for them to realize their ambitions and not to encourage violence that would lead to the truncation of peoples’ lives, time and ambitions.

Mr. Azuimah who made the appeal at the opening of a two-day Women and Youth in Peacebuilding training workshop in Wa, said peace was a pre-requisite for the success of the country in general and to the realization of individual goals.

He noted that Ghana was bigger than any political party, adding that the country was therefore not prepared for any political party which chose to be an architect of violence, instead of being an epitome of peace and development.

The National Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council emphasized that political parties should have strong moral courage to condemn violent acts by their members, and sanction those directly or indirectly involved as a way of putting an end to such misconduct which also had the potential of plunging the country into chaos.

Mr. Azuimah pointed out that any political party which was not able to exercise such an authority over its members certainly would not be able to exercise control over the security of the country, and therefore was not worth voting for.

He said Ghana should learn lessons from countries such as Liberia, Libya, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Somalia and Rwanda, among others, which suffered from political violence and used that as basis to guard against anything that had the tendency to cause the security of the country.

Mr. Azuimah noted that it was in that vein that the National Peace Council organized the Women and Youth in Peacebuilding Workshop, which would see to the formation of a Regional Women and Youth in Peacebuilding Forum, to champion the course of peace in the region.

Participants were drawn from selected conflict areas in the region, including Wa, Gwollu, Tumu, Wechiau and Nadowli.