Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana//- During the three-day training sessions for public sector professionals, ACP Raymond Wejong Adofiem, Upper East Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service advised 25-high achieving security sector trainees selected from the Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Ambulance Service, Ghana Fire Service and Ghana Police Service to demonstrate leadership and professionalism during this year’s elections.
He said the security agencies must deploy their professional conduct by serving as early warning resources and ensuring public safety to promote peace and security during this year’s election.
ACP Adofiem advised the professional security agencies against conflicts ahead of this year’s election at a training funded by the US. Embassy in Ghana and collaboration with the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA)
The training under the P.E.A.C.E Professionals Engaged Against Conflict & Endangerment Fellows Project, implemented by Emerging Public Leaders of Ghana, was to empower and equip professionals with training, intending to enhance their peace-building skills to become early warning resources, with a specific focus on public service security professionals working in Northern Ghana.
The event was to train a selected group of entry-level professionals within the Ministry of Interior and other security and border agencies working to build and maintain peaceful communities to become right-conscious leaders who use ethical and situational leadership skills, conflict management, and negotiation skills to help improve security civilian relationships and the peace architecture in northern Ghana.
ACP Adofiem further emphasized that the security agencies should also be committed to using dialogue to limit intimidation and violence during the campaign and election day to achieve credibility and transparency in this year’s general election.
He said security agencies should develop a diversified strategy to accommodate different target groups to prevent severe individual as well as political consequences of electrical violence.
DCOP Duuti Tuaruka, Northern Regional Commander of Police, urged the security agencies to use the training skills they have acquired to improve upon their strategies to prevent and manage election violence.
He added that monitoring and education of election activities need to be carried out on a long-term basis to maintain peace in the country.
Mr Kevin Brosnahan, Press Attache, U.S. Embassy Ghana, said the program is part of the US Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability (SPCPS), which is a ten-year effort with five coastal West African countries to support peace and security by building local capacity, supporting equitable economic growth, and helping to improve government services and accountability.
“It’s a big effort, but one that we share with colleagues from the US Department of Defense, the US Agency for International Development, and partners in Ghana.” He added.
Mr Brosnahan stated that “Ghana has so far avoided attacks by violent extremists. But we don’t have to look very far to see examples of violent extremists exploiting vulnerabilities to undermine government and drive divisions”.
He said the objective of the U.S. Embassy in Ghana is to prevent that with more professional security forces, responsive government agencies that meet the needs of their constituents, and communities prepared with the tools they need to resolve conflicts. Journalists who do not fan the flames of conflict and more young people who are empowered and prepared to support peacebuilding in their communities.
Mr Harrison Boakye Owusu, the Partnership and Sustainability Manager at Emerging Public Leaders of Ghana, who highlighted the project, said the PEACE Fellows Project is a 12-month program that will engage and equip 100 participants via a series of online symposiums to become early warning resources, improve their peacebuilding skills, and also enable them to work more effectively to deliver critical peace and security services to communities in the northern regions of Ghana.
Overall, the program aims to enhance the service delivery of Ghana’s critical security agencies in at-risk communities in northern Ghana, and by increasing the capacity of young professionals, community leaders, and young people to resolve and de-escalate community conflict, it is believed that the program will contribute to strengthening public safety and security, building social cohesion, and effectively reducing the risk of extremist violence.
He added that to increase the program’s scale, reach, and impact, the Peace Fellows will be encouraged to adopt an each-one-to-reach-five technique that is focused on cascading newly acquired knowledge.
The participants were selected from the Northern, Upper East, and North East regions, and they would also receive human security training and training in other 21st-century soft skills to further transform them into champions of equitable justice in the municipalities and districts.
