Ghanaian youth have been advised to shun people who engage in hate speech as the political campaigns towards the December 2024 general election heat up.
Dr Samuel Marfo, a member of the Upper West Regional Peace Council, said the youth owed the nation that duty in the quest to chalk yet another successful democratic milestone.
He was speaking during an awareness creation programme amongst the youth on hate speech, misinformation and disinformation around elections, religious tolerance and protracted conflicts at Olli in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region.
The event, which brought together over 40 young men and women from Kpila and Olli, was organised by the National Peace Council and sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the UN Peace Building Fund.
Dr Marfo, a Professor of Conflict Resolution with the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), said to identify hate speech, the youth must look out for negative tags, generalisation of individual negative deeds, and treating a person or groups as inferior.
Citing examples of violence that claimed thousands of lives and destroyed properties across the globe, he condemned violence and admonished the youth to resort to dialogue amid every disagreement.
“You can be friends in the midst of diversity and if there’s any disagreement, you need to sit and dialogue but not resort to violence,” he said.
He said election was not about violence but rather a contestation of ideas with the goal to developing the nation.
“You cannot sow violence and expect to reap peace, likewise, you cannot be preaching peace and be preparing for war,” he emphasized.
The participants mentioned land dispute, poor road network; lack of education infrastructure, electricity, telecommunication network, and clinic; and lack of a dam for water for their animals as some of the critical challenges confronting the two communities.
Mr Clifford Tampuori, the Upper West Regional Executive Secretary, National Peace Council, said the engagement was to expose the youth to the concept of misinformation and disinformation as a trigger to conflicts, highlighting the dangers of hate speech to social cohesion, and harness the energies of the youth as ambassadors of peace.
