Bolgatanga, July 2, GNA - The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Boniface Gambila, has urged senior citizens in the region to support the Regional co-ordinating Council's (RCC) development efforts by providing the council with ideas on how to rid the area of activities that are inimical to sustainable peace and security.

He said the spate of land litigation, chieftaincy disputes, highway and armed robbery and social indiscipline threatened the peace and stability of the region and needed to be eradicated. "The need to sustain peace is essential to the socio-economic development of our society. I, therefore, wish to call for your concerted efforts so we can make all these negative incidents a thing of the past," he said.

Mr. Gambila was speaking at a ceremony in Bolgatanga where 87 senior citizens from the region's eight districts were honoured for their meritorious service to the region and the nation. He said although the event was set aside specifically to honour the senior citizens, it also offered a unique occasion for stock taking and examining the region's past performances so as to shape an agenda for its progress into the future.

Mr Gambilla said prosperous and democratic nations were built through hard work, sacrifice and a high sense of patriotism and therefore urged the youth to pick up the baton in the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease, since the senior citizens had done their part. Two of the District Chief Executives in the region, Mr. Emmanuel Chegeweh of Kassena-Nankana and Mr. Thomas Alonzi of Builsa, briefed the senior citizens on the developmental efforts of their respective district assemblies.

The common theme that ran through their submissions included increased spending on education, poverty reduction and efforts at improving local revenue mobilisation.

Prominent among the senior citizens present were Colonel (Rtd) George Minyila, former Ambassador to Burkina Faso and Mr. Seidu Akalifa Abugri an educationist and opinion leader from the Bawku Municipality. In addition to dining and wining, each of the citizens went home with a half piece of Ghana's 50th Anniversary cloth.