Politicians supplying youth with weapons?

Tamale, Nov. 8, GNA - The Dakpema, Na Alhassan Dawuni, Chief of Tamale, has appealed to politicians and their cronies in the south, who supply weapons of destruction to northern youth, to stop the practice for the development of the country.

He said if politicians stopped their selfish and negative attitude towards their perceived political opponents and contribute their quota to ensure the development of the country, conflicts would be uprooted from the country.

The Dakpema, Na Dawuni, made the appeal when Mr. Benard Mornah, General Secretary of the People's National Convention (PNC), led a delegation of party members, to pay a courtesy call on him on Saturday.

The call was to brief the Chief about the activities of the PNC in the Region, and to assure the people of Tamale that members of the PNC were peace loving, which the rest of the political parties should emulate to ensure the development of the Region.

Na Dawuni said, "In my ten months stay in this palace as a chief, I have observed that politicians living in Accra and other cities in the south are supplying the Northern Youth who are jobless with weapons of destruction.

"Many of these youth have voluntarily surrendered a number of weapons to me and confessed that they received them from politicians from Accra, which I have handed over to the Northern Regional Police command", he said. Na Dawuni said the youth who had refused to surrender the weapons to the police following an announcement by the Northern Regional Security Committee to surrender them for a price of GH¢300, but sent them to the palace demonstrate that the chieftaincy institutions were still relevant in the country's governance system.

"It would do the country good if you supply the youth with tools to help them generate income, instead of purchasing weapons for them to kill their own brothers. You may supply weapons for destruction to achieve your aim on earth, but don't forget that posterity would judge you individually," he said.

He said the politicians had managed to paint a gloomy picture of the=

entire northern sector, which was scaring investors, and appealed to the business community that, the north especially Northern Region was safe for business and chiefs would help protect their investments.

He appealed to all peace loving Ghanaians, NGOs and corporate bodies to contribute to the Dakpema Education Fund (DEF), which aims at educating the youth to remain disciplined, so that those who have been supplying weapons would not succeed again.

He warned that the palace would be compelled to expose those supplying weapons, if they did not desist from the practice, to ensure that Dagbon and the rest of the North was weapon-free, so that the people would continue to coexist.

Mr. Bernard Mornah, General Secretary of the PNC commended Na Dawuni for the initiative to retrieve weapons from the youth and gave the assurance that, a PNC-led government when given the mandate would empower chiefs with the necessary mobility tools to enable them spread peace messages.