He said Ghana deserves to be a model of peace in the sub-region and Africa at large and stressed that the youth must not wait until during elections for politicians to use them as stooges gain their selfish interests saying, “Politicians need to invest in your future but not to instigate you to take arms against one another”.

Mr Azuimah said this over the weekend during a sensitization programme for political parties’ executives on the essence of peace before, during and after the December 7, polls. The programme was organized by the National Peace Council (NPC) in collaboration with the USAID and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed at ensuring that the youth, politicians and the media acted responsibly before, during and after the polls.

Mr Azuimah said, “All of you here are responsible parents and how would you feel if you engage in negative acts that would lead to the killing of your children or any of your relatives while the politician you are fighting for has his/her children”.“Proper education is what you need for your children as a way of building a formidable future for them but not engaging in political violence”, he said adding that Tamale was a safe haven for investment because of its strategic location and the vast land mass.

“I call on the people of Dagbon to make the region more fertile for investment and development since Tamale has more prospects than any other Metropolis in the country”, he said. He said the NPC would continue to partner the country’s development partners to offer the needed education for peace before, during and after the elections to ensure that Ghana remained the most peaceful in the world to attract more investors.

Alhaji Abdul Razak Saani, the Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), said it is important for all Ghanaians to contribute towards peaceful elections since no one benefits from conflicts. He said political parties would amass more votes if the elections are conducted in a peaceful environment saying, “More people would prefer to stay indoors if the elections are greeted with violence and in the end the political parties would be the losers”.

Alhaji Saani appealed to all the key players in the election process such as the media, the political parties and politicians, the judiciary, the EC, the security agencies and civil society among others to  work together to ensure a violence free elections. He commended the NPC, the UNDP and USAID for the initiative saying the NCCE would always play its mandated role by ensuring that the public received the needed education for the sustenance of the country’s peace.