Nii Oyokunor Sampah, Board member of the National Peace Council (NPC) has inaugurated a seven-member Volta Regional Peace Council (RPC) in Ho and called on members to apply the “nugbidodo” approach to making peace in the region. He also presented a conflict map of the region to the Council.

Members were also taken through an “engagement workshop” which focused on the NPC Act 2011 (Act 818), NPC’s strategic plan and the Volta Region Conflict Map. Members of the Council are Reverend Monsignor Anthony Kofi Anani Kornu, representative of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Chairman.

The others are Right Reverend Francis Amenu, Moderator E.P. Church, Reverends Joseph Senyo-Pongo, Senior Pastor, Assemblies of God, Ho Central, Charity Agbley, General Overseer Lighthouse Chapel International, Ho. The rest are Inayat Ullah Zahid, Regional Missionary, Ahamadiyya Muslim Mission, Volta region and Imam Alfa Idrisu, representative of Al-sunnah Muslims.

“Let us all endeavour to rededicate ourselves to the principles of ‘nugbidodo’ and use them at all times”, Nii Oyokunor Sampah exhorted. He listed those principles as, “honest acknowledgement of the harm or injury a brother has inflicted on another brother, sincere regret and remorse for the injury, readiness to apologize for one’s role in inflicting the injury.”

The others are “readiness of conflicting parties to let go of the anger and bitterness caused by the conflict and the injury, sincere efforts to redress past grievances that caused the conflict is on and compensate the damage caused to the fullest extent possible, as well as entering into new mutually enriching relationship.”

Nii Oyokunor Sampah appealed to all parties to the conflicts in the region “to put the past behind and forge ahead to ensure that the peace we currently enjoyed is sustained”. He observed that “most often… when we are faced with conflict situations we tend to forget our past good relationships” and resort to violence instead of dialogue, mediation and negotiation.

Helen Adjoa Ntoso, Volta Regional Minister urged members of the Council to uphold the principles of “neutrality, impartiality, equity and fairness in guiding belligerent groups and communities to settle their differences amicably.”

Mr David E.Y. Normanyo, Volta Regional Executive Secretary of the Peace Council observed that the advantage with the NPC’s structure is that it allows the RPCs and District Peace Councils to “design and implement appropriate conflict prevention, resolution and mediation strategies” rooted “in the specific cultural resources and implicit knowledge available in the given region or district.”