Youth in Northern Region are vulnerable to electoral violence – WANEP report

The youth of Northern Region have become more vulnerable to violence in 2016 than any other year, a report by the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP) has said.

According to the organisation’s monitoring report, there is a simmering division among the youth which it fears could be taken advantage of by individuals and political parties to cause violence in the region.

Addressing the media in Tamale, a member of the Northern Regional Election Early Warning and Response Group (REWARG), Rev Dr Solomon Sule Saka said the current faction among the youth in the region poses danger for the upcoming polls.

He said these youth who are “covertly in sports, arts and entertainment groups" are in conflict with one another both religiously and politically, which he said is worrying.

The youth, he added are also intensely engaged in a competition in the region over who is more powerful than the other, adding the unresolved chieftaincy issues is feeding the issue.

He wants immediate measures to be put in place to ensure that the youth are not used to cause mayhem in the region.

Dr Sule Saka urged the media to collaborate with the security agencies to ensure that troubled areas in the country are monitored.

He also said the role of the media in a democracy like Ghana goes beyond their watchdog role, urging media practitioners to thoroughly scrutinise the electoral process to ensure fairness in the process.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | AKABP