Minister re-echoes peaceful settlement of disputes in Upper West

Wa, March 6, GNA - Mr. Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, has reiterated his call on the people to find amicable ways of settling disputes, especially those bordering on chieftaincy and land, to promote development and progress in the region. "For all of the good things to take place, we need unity and peace at all times and in all places. Unity and peace hold the key to any successful endeavour and the absence of them can only retard our progress and development", he said.

Mr. Khalid was addressing basic school children, students from second cycle schools, security personnel, political parties' supporters as well as other identifiable groups at a well attended parade to mark this year's Independence Day celebration in Wa. The day was on the theme: "Unity and peace, pillars for national development". Mr. Khalid said even though the region was experiencing some peace that had not in any way suggest that there was an absolute peace in all the communities. "In fact the reality is that we have flashpoints in chieftaincy and land disputes in the region which, if not amicably addressed, can escalate and derail our development efforts," Mr. Khalid said. He appealed to stakeholders to be proactive in resolving all the outstanding chieftaincy disputes in the five paramountcies by ensuring that the right persons were selected and enskined to the skins.

Mr. Khalid also called on the people to do away with ethnicity, religious and political differences and pooled resources to help address the challenges of poverty, health, poor infrastructure, deprivation and underdevelopment. He commended the security personnel in the region for working hard to maintain peace and urged the public to collaborate with them to build a common front to fight crime and ills in the region. Mr. Khalid reminded the school children and students that government placed a high premium on the youth as the wealth of the nation and urged them to study hard at school and come out successfully to contribute positively to the development of the country.