Tolon District NCCE organises Police-community dialogue session

The Tolon District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has organised a Police-community dialogue session as part of efforts to promote peaceful coexistence.The dialogue, held at Kpalisogu in the district in the Northern Region, was aimed at creating a platform where personnel of the Ghana Police Service, community members and other stakeholders in the area could interact to defuse suspicion and build trust to improve Police-community relations and confidence.The event attracted inter-party dialogue committee members, women and youth groups, representatives of political parties, and the security services among other stakeholders in the area.The dialogue, which was funded by the European Union, also focused on violent extremism and its related effects.Mrs Abdul-Rahaman Hahawu, Tolon District Director of NCCE, speaking during the event said the dialogue formed part of the implementation of the Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism project.She said it was geared towar ds engaging the citizenry to promote social cohesion, peace, and tolerance as a way of addressing any possible tensions.She emphasised that fighting violent extremism demanded individuals' and groups' vigilance, including reporting suspicious characters to law enforcement agencies.She said, 'It also demands decorous pronouncement devoid of hate speech and ethnic sentiment.'Mrs Abdul-Rahaman urged the citizenry to be law-abiding and prioritise reporting their grievances and issues to the appropriate quarters instead of taking the laws into their own hands.She said, 'We must all be vigilant by identifying signs of conflicts in the early stages and report them to the appropriate authorities for early redress.'Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Gladstone Kumeko, Tolon District Police Commander, educated participants on the duties of the Ghana Police Service and how communities could support them to promote peace and harmony.He explained that the Police required the gathering of data and evidence to properly execute their duties, urging members of the public to learn to report suspicious cases within their communities.DSP Mr Kumeko mentioned some of the challenges confronting the Police Service in the area, which included inadequate logistics, unwillingness of community members to report suspicious cases, interference in criminal cases by opinion leaders and the lack of trust and confidence on their part to enforce law and order.He expressed commitment to work with the available resources and urged the communities to support in the fight to ensure peace and tolerance.Mr Abukari Adamu, a retired educationist in the Tolon District, expressed the need for continuous dialogue to help settle any issues that could degenerate into violence and disrupt peaceful coexistence in the country.He spoke on the rule of law and urged all to seek justice through the legal processes without taking the laws into their hands to destabilise the peace.Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Northern Regional Director of NCCE was o ptimistic that the 2024 general election would be peaceful and urged all stakeholders in the country to religiously play their role in the election.Participants commended NCCE and partners for organising the event and appealed to duty-bearers to ensure transparency in the discharge of their responsibilities to improve the trust and cordial relations between the Police and communities.Source: Ghana News Agency