<<Print>>

Major stakeholders in the Yendi Municipality Monday held a meeting towards unifying the people for lasting peace in Dagbon. The Yendi Youth Centre organized the meeting attended by representatives of some 26 youth groups and assembly members in the Municipality. Mr Mahama Seidu, Field Officer of Youth Empowerment for Life, an NGO, operating in the Northern Region, said the absence of such joint meetings of the various youth groups had contributed to some of the conflicts, which were impeding progress of peace and unity. Mr Seidu, who is also in charge of the Youth Centres in the Eastern Corridor, said similar meetings had already been held in Saboba, Bimbilla, Wulensi and Karaga for assembly members saying, �We held a youth meeting involving the youth of the Andani and Abudu Royal families, including some religious bodies in Yendi, in order to promote peace among the people�. He said the meetings were also meant to create platforms for the youth to share ideas and collectively engage government and other stakeholders to see how best their living conditions could be improved. The Youth Empowerment for Life, he said, was operating on its two main components of employment and empowerment, which aimed at offering training for the youth in entrepreneurial skills to enable them to become self-employed. Mr Seidu stated that with the empowerment, platforms would be created for the youth to share ideas and to collectively engage government and other stakeholders in development programmes and policies. He gave the assurance that such centres would be created in some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to train the youth to be self-employed instead of idling under trees and sheds. Yendi would soon have a Youth Centre for joint youth group training in entrepreneurship skills. Mr William Yaw Apuri, Secretary of the Yendi Youth Centre, said such group meetings would accord the youth the opportunity to discuss ways and means to actively take part in local governance, which would involve them in decision making. The Most Reverend Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai, Bishop of the Yendi Catholic Diocese, who chaired the meeting, appealed to the youth not to allow politics and chieftaincy to divide them because politics has the tendency of derailing the prevailing peace in the area. He advised the youth to include women in their leadership positions as women have vital roles to play in peace building and appealed to them to always embark on voluntary activities to clean the environment.