General News of Monday, 24 June 2019

Source: newsghana24.com

Politicizing kidnappings will only deepen our woes – Joseph Wemakor

Joseph Kobla Wemakor Joseph Kobla Wemakor

The Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana(HRRG), Joseph Kobla Wemakor has bemoaned the attitude of some Ghanaians in connection with politicization of issues of kidnappings being recorded in the country in recent times, adding, “It will only deepen our woes as a country if care is not taken”.

According to him, addressing the thorny issue holistically will only require effective collaboration of all Ghanaians to hunt down the perpetrators, bring them to book and ensure that peace continues to prevail in the country instead of the politicizing it.

“Our bane as a nation has always been politicizing issues when we ought to rather focus our attention on finding solutions to them”. “So are we still politicizing a serious issue of this magnitude which has got to do with precious lives?, this is quite unfortunate”, he quizzed.

He, therefore, appealed to all Ghanaians especially the leaders of the two major political parties in the country, NPP and NDC to desist from politicizing the issue of kidnapping cases and collaborate efficiently with the security forces to fight the canker.

Mr. Wemakor made this assertion in an interview with NewsGhana24.com on the sidelines of a sensitization exercise on kidnapping organized by his outfit at the Hayfron International Community School located at Anyaa, a suburb of Accra on Monday June 17, 2019.

The politicization of kidnappings by leaders of the two main political parties in the country generated a huge public outcry and criticism at the wake the rescue of the two Canadian women who were abducted in Kumasi at the beginning of the month.

At the centre of the controversy lies one of the suspects, Seidu Mba who got both political parties peddling accusations and counter accusations against one another over the alleged suspects affiliation to their respective parties.

But the HRRG boss in his assertion calls for an end to the saga so as to allow the mysteries behind series of recent kidnappings in the country be unraveled for peace to prevail.

The Human Rights Reporters Ghana is a non-governmental organizations formed purposely to defend and protect the freedom and fundamental human rights of manner of people in Ghana and beyond particularly, the children, girls and women who are the most vulnerable.

Having caught up by the attention of various critical human rights and social issues that stares the country in the face of which kidnappings currently dominates, it has helped mobilized its members to embark upon a nationwide sensitization campaign aimed at addressing those issues and more in a bid to help create a society for all without a discrimination.

The organization since its inception has sensitized over 6,000 school children and adults on the phenomenon of kidnapping and offered them useful tips to guide them in order to foil the attempts of kidnappers.

As part of its nationwide sensitization campaign, HRRG has currently sensitized over 700 students of Accra College of Demonstration School, 480 students of Hayfron International School located at Anyaa in Accra, 85 students of Supreme Preparatory & JHS School at Anyaa Palas Town, 256 students from Little Miracles International School at Lapaz in Accra and over 200students of Shiny Kumbo Star Preparatory School.

In addition, the organization has also educated over 400 students of Royal Crown International School located in Accra, 140 pupils of Little Angels International school including over 400 church youths of Christ Apostolic Church(CAC) and Church of Pentecost located at Techiman in the Bono East Region of Ghana.