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Until peace is restored to all parts of the African continent, it is unlikely that our struggling economies will be transformed, and poverty and disease may fester as a consequence, Dr Bryan Acheampong, a former Minister of State in charge of National Security, has said.
He said peacebuilding was imperative in Africa as almost all African states required it to achieve positive peace and overall development.
“A significant number of countries on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission are found in Africa,” Dr Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, stated at the 12th Joint Graduation ceremony of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra at the weekend.
The joint graduation ceremony, on the theme: ‘Educating the Next Generation of Peacebuilders in Africa,’ was chaired by Prof. Samuel KwakuBonsu, the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Some 37 post-graduate students were awarded various degrees in Master of Arts in Gender, Peace, and Security (MGPS), Master of Arts in Conflict,Peace and Security (MCPS), Executive Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (EMCPS), Weekend Master of Arts in Conflict, Peace and Security (WMCPS), Weekend Master of Arts in Gender, Peace and Security (WMGPS).
Dr Bryan said virtually all parts of the Africa continent, state and societies continued to grapple with extraordinary challenges that were threatening both state and human security.
Key among these threats, he noted, was violent extremist activities and insurgencies, youth unemployment, bad governance and economic stagnation, gross human rights violations, environmental stresses and strains, and maritime piracy and sea robbery.
He said “perhaps even more troubling is the resurgence of military coups and democratic reversals that continue to challenge the resilience of states in West Africa.”
Dr Acheampong said since 2020, the region had seen about six successful coups with multiple coup attempts, the latest being in Sierra Leone.
He intimated that the relapse to militarism and the popular domestic support that characterized them raised fundamental questions about the brand of democracy and constitutionalism being practiced on the continent, and the effectiveness of regional norms and principles as mechanisms for democratic consolidation in West Africa.
Dr Acheampong said over the last two decades, the nature of conflicts had changed, necessitating African states, the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Africa Union Peace Support Operations, and Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms to adapt.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, countries were developing security and military capacities to deal with emerging and existing threats, the minister noted.
According to the minister, who has served in the United States Air Force with Security and Intelligence training, emerging peace building approaches placed emphasis on localisation necessitating that peace building academia embraced new partnerships which enforced Global South cooperation in developing African research agendas.
That, he stated, could contribute to addressing African challenges by African scholars as well as global challenges from an African perspective.
To this end, Dr Acheampong said “peacebuilding is a collective responsibility of state and non-state actors” and that African governments and the private sector must consider investing in peacebuilding research, institutional development, and capacity building.
Major General Richard AddoGyane, Commandant, KAIPTC, charged the graduates to apply the intuitive and analytical skills they had gleaned from KAIPTC to guide discussions on best practices and attitudes in dealing with social issues.
“Be critical thinkers who are not easily cowed into replacing right with wrong but insist on transparency and fair play with a huge dose of integrity,” he said.
The Commandant said “here at KAIPTC, our objective has been not to relent when it comes to the quality and adherence to globally accepted educational policies geared towards empowering the next generation of peacebuilders.”
He said the path to sustainable peace dwelled in the domain of the teeming youth, and that it was important to provide them with the kind of quality education that reflected good leadership, conflict resolution skills, empathy, high moral standards and the will to fight corruption.
Maj Gen AddoGyane said educating the next generation of peacekeepers in Africa was not just a noble goal, but a strategic imperative where the youth emerged as ambassadors for peace.
“Together, let us commit to building a brighter and more harmonious Africa through the transformative power of education,” he urged.
