Use New Year Resolution to put behind Culture of Impunity

Zebilla (UE) Jan 6, GNA - The Minister for the Interior , Mr. Cletus Avoka, has appealed to Ghanaians to resolve in the new year to put behind them the culture of impunity, intolerance and vengeance.

The Minister who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Zebilla Constituency stated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when he toured his constituency in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.

He expressed concern about the way some people got prone to the culture of impunity, intolerance and vengeance and said it constituted a major setback to development.

He emphasized that no any meaningful progress could thrive in an atmosphere of violence, and appealed to people in all parts of the country where conflicts persist, especially Bawku and Dagbon, to bury their differences to pave way for development.

He said people should allow the Rule of Law to prevail instead of taking the law into their own hands, adding that actions from such offenders would not be tolerated.

Mr. Avoka who also addressed a gathering in his constituency, urged the people to close their ranks and work hard to develop the district by addressing poverty, disease and illiteracy, saying that as MP he was committed to the development aspirations of his constituents.

During an interaction with the students Association in his constituency, he said in 2009 alone he spent almost all his Common Fund in sponsoring students into various institutions in the Country, and urged them to reciprocate that gesture by taking their studies seriously and be disciplined.

He entreated women's groups in the constituency to form formidable associations to enable them access loans to undertake business ventures so as to support their husbands to take good care of their families.

He however advised the women's groups to undertake viable ventures that would yield more profit to enable them to repay their loans so that their colleagues could also benefit.

He noted that Government had initiated a number of pro-poor intervention programmes including the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the Northern Rural Growth Project, the Sheanut Development Project, the Free School Uniforms and Exercise Books, among others, that would help alleviate poverty in Northern Ghana.

He stated that Government's intention to develop the area would be a mirage if people in the area continued to engage in fruitless conflicts. Emphasizing that peace and tranquility were paramount to development, the Minister also indicated that no country could develop without those preconditions.

GNA.