He said “we must be at peace with one another and with our neighbours and respect the freedom of every individual as enshrined in the motto of our country, “Freedom and Justice”. Mr Saeed said this when delivering a speech to mark the 61st anniversary of the country’s independence at the Jubilee Park in Tamale on Tuesday.

There was a march past by personnel of the security agencies, students, pupils and voluntary organizations to mark the day, which was on the theme: “Ghana Beyond Aid.” Mr Saeed said “those of us especially in the Northern Region need to uphold these tenets considering the obvious challenges we face such as poverty and underdevelopment”.

He said “the region can be part of the Ghana Beyond Aid if we first and foremost promote peace and unity amongst our people” adding “But more importantly, we as citizens must uphold the value of peace and unity by conducting ourselves in a manner that will not injure or create problems in society.”

Mr Saeed said “we must respect each other’s beliefs and disposition and guard against utterances and acts that seek to portray us as supreme to others. We can project our beliefs without necessarily being offensive to the beliefs of others.”

He said “this is the country we have and we have a collective responsibility irrespective of our tribes, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation to make her better for the sake of posterity.”