The Upper East Regional Minister who is also the governing New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate for Navrongo Central, Paulina Tangoba Abayage, has called on political parties to prioritise the peace of northern Ghana ahead of the 2020 elections.

Speaking at the 2020 Northern Ghana Development Summit organised by Star-Ghana Foundation on Thursday, 20 August 2020, she indicated that elections remain a key component that fuelled violence and conflict, and thereby admonished political parties to preach peace.

“There is no denying the fact that the peace dividend is one that continues to elude some parts of Northern Ghana, making any serious discussions on development in this part of the country incomplete without a consideration of it. Elections have been, by far, one of the underlying causes of the instability,” she said.

The forum, which brought together key stakeholders in the north, government representatives and traditional leaders, was dubbed, “Election 2020 and COVID-19: Opportunities and challenges for the transformation of the Northern Ghana economy.”