Ghanaian youth have been advised to shun people who engage in hate speech as the political campaigns towards the December 2024 general elections heat up.

This, according to Dr. Samuel Marfo, a member of the Upper West Regional Peace Council and also a Professor of Conflict Resolution with the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), is a duty the youth owe to the nation in her quest to chalk yet another successful democratic milestone.

Prof. Marfo was speaking during an awareness creation program amongst the youth on hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation around elections, religious tolerance, and protracted conflicts at the Olli community in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region.

The event, which brought together over 40 youth participants, including both males and females from Kpila and Olli communities, was organized by the National Peace Council (NPC) and sponsored by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the UN Peacebuilding Fund.

To help the youth identify hate speech, Prof. Marfo urged them to look out for negative tags, generalizations of individual negative deeds, and looking down on or treating individuals or groups as inferior.

Citing examples of violence that claimed thousands of lives and destroyed properties across the globe, the Professor of Conflict Resolution condemned the violence and admonished the youth to resort to dialogue in the midst of every disagreement.

“You can be friends midst diversity, and if there’s any disagreement, you need to sit and dialogue without resorting to violence," he said while stressing that the election was not about violence but rather a contestation of ideas with the ultimate goal of developing the nation.

“You cannot sow violence and expect to reap peace; likewise, you cannot preach peace and be preparing for war," he said.

The participants mentioned land disputes, poor road networks, lack of schools, electricity, telecommunications networks, and clinics, and lack of a dam to water their animals as some of the critical challenges confronting the two communities that they desire to address.

Clifford Tampuori, Executive Secretary of the Upper West Regional Peace Council, said the objective of the engagement is to expose the youth to the concept of misinformation and disinformation as a trigger to conflicts, highlight the dangers of hate speech to social cohesion, and harness the energies of the youth as ambassadors of peace.