By Sualah Abdul-wahab
Residents of Wechiau in the Wa West District of the Upper West say they are now vigilant about people with suspicious characters in their communities. According to them, they have become vigilant because of the numerous sensitization activities carried out by the Institute of Democratic Governance, IDEG on violent extremism prior to the 2024 elections.
The residents made the remarks during an evaluation meeting on Community Actions Against Violent Extremism in Ghana, CAAVE-Ghana organized by IDEG at Wa. The meeting was attended by community members from Wa West District and Bole in the Savanna Region. Months before the elections, IDEG with support from Australian Aid implemented a project known as Community Actions Against Violent Extremism in Ghana, and CAAVE-Ghana in selected communities in the regions.
The communities included Dabo, Wechiau and Bankpama in the Wa West district and Mwandari, Doli and Bole in the Bole District. The participants included chiefs, assembly members, security agencies, opinion leaders and a section of the public. They were sensitized to the dangers and negative implications of violent extremism and things that are likely to create a fertile ground for violent extremists to take advantage of.
They were also entreated not to engage in acts likely to mar the credibility of the 2024 election which could lead to violence. The participants serve as trainer of trainers in their communities to preach the mantra of “See Something Say Something”. The Upper West Regional Coordinator of Institute for Democratic Government Siddique Watara told the media that the evaluation meeting was to “assess the impact of the project in the selected communities in relation to its objective. From the participant’s own words they said,
“the project has contributed to ensuring peace during the elections and prevented acts of violent extremism.”. Presenting on behalf of the participants of the Wa West District, Abudi Abu who is also the Assembly member of Wechiau Electoral Area said the materials distributed to residents were very educative while the zonal peace conference held in Tamale was gender sensitive. Mr Abu added that the organization of the town hall meeting was challenging due to over-attendance. He described the project as laudable because it awakened their sense of self-security to prevent bad people from infiltrating their communities. For his part, a representative from the Savannah Region Alhassan Seidu cited a shortage of educational materials and mobilization of stakeholders as some of the challenges encountered.
The participants concluded that they no longer take their security for granted. “Days after the training, we accosted a gentleman who was not known in the community. We reported the man to the District Police Command which arrested and questioned him of his mission in the area. He was later returned to where he claimed to have come from,” Assembly Member for Mempe Asem Electoral Area in Bole, Mr Abu Hassan added.
A Development Consultant Douglas Quartey commended the participants for being objective in assessing the impact of the project. Mr Quartey called on the participating communities to own the project as its winds up so that they will continue to educate others not to fall prey to violent extremists.
