Correspondence from Upper East Region

Paramount Chief of the Paga Traditional Area, P3 Charles Awiah Awumpaga II, has urged his people, especially the youth, to be moderate as they go about campaign activities for political parties they support.

The Chief said political campaigns were not about maiming or killing oneself for the party but were about selling ideas and solutions to the problems of the electorates. He said politics was about development and improvement of the lives of the people and not to destabilize the peace and serenity of the society.

Speaking in his opening address at a brief engagement he had with his Elders, Subchiefs, Political party representatives and members of the Security Agencies in Paga, to find ways to ensure the safety of his people before, during and after the election, Paga- Pio described as very worrying the rowdy nature of political campaigns in his area.

He said he had observed the reckless manner in which the youth in his area rode motorcycles and other live-threatening activities as they participated in political campaigns which were not the standard and safe way of doing campaigns.

Paga-Pio said there was an urgent need for authorities to find ways to discourage young people from embarking on political campaigns which threatened their very lives and the peace of the society.

“we are here today not for anything but to discuss issues concerning the political campaign season. The political campaign season is causing silent havoc in our society which no one has taken note of. So, if we don’t sit down to tackle the issues and we are quiet about happenings, we’ll all have regrets tomorrow.

The way the youth are recklessly riding motorcycles in town during campaigns and assaulting each other is very dangerous which is not good. It is bringing great destruction if we don’t do nothing about it.

So, I have called you here to look at ways to stop some of these behaviours to prevent any unforeseen destruction”.

“the youth think politics is about their kind of campaigns but it is not. It is not about recklessly riding of motorcycles in town and attacking each other. It is about development and helping people. When Mahama or Akufo Addo wins he won’t care about you. He won’t bring the win to your house. He’ll be enjoying with his wife and children while you rot away in your grave or suffer on your sick bed”. He cautioned in the local dialect, Kasem.

The Chief commended the Security Agencies in his jurisdiction for ensuring calm before the election and urged them to give off their best in ensuring absolute peace during and after the election. He pledged his unflinching support in dealing with recalcitrants who want to foment trouble during the election.

Inspector Tibim Solomon, the District station Officer, who represented the District Police Commander, stated the readiness of the Police to combat any election-related violence in the area.

He revealed that the police had strategically placed informants within the communities to feed them with information on people who want to cause trouble for swift response to quell them.

He said the Police have also identified some hotspots in the area and arrangements have been made to deploy men to keep any situation under control. He urged the people to have trust in the police to ensure the safety of all citizens.

” we have also set informants within the communities who are very very reliable to provide us information about any planned activity by any individual or group of people that want to disrupt the peace that we are enjoying here so that we are able to flush them out”.

“we have identified some hotspots and during the election, we will mount each polling station with security personnel. The hotspots would be manned by two security personnel so that there will be peace”.