Peace Promotion Campaign Election 2008 – Northern Region

 You and I are weak and we cannot defend ourselves when there is a conflict  You might be killed and you will not live to be a parent or a grandparent.  If they kill your father in war, there will be no one to drop you in school or help you do your homework or buy you presents. Your mother will always be crying.  Children of soldiers go through serious trauma whilst their dear daddy is away keeping peace.  Everyday you will see dead bodies littered on the streets.

 There will always be loud bangs from guns and grenades and bombs and at times some can even enter your house and kill somebody or even everybody.  You the boys no matter your age will be injected with drugs to make you mad, forced to carry guns and kill people at times including your own father.  We the little girls no matter our age might be raped by soldiers and rogues.  Ghana loses a lot trying to keep peace to the detriment of education, health, salaries and so many good things for the country.  We the children will live in fear and under so much trauma and the most painful part is that we may have to run away from our country to a place like Burkina Faso and the journey we will make it on foot, I mean we will walk.

Tamale Peace March – November We in Ananse Reach Concept as a visionary organisation started our peace campaign in 2007 after it was clear that pockets of community disturbances especially in some parts of the Upper East and Volta Regions of Ghana and rumours of some disturbances in the media, communication devices, text messages and other channels kept on escalating.

Tamale Peace March – November I recall mentioning in various places I presented speeches that, it is always a common practice to disregard such signals citing numerous reasons usually bordering the perception that, certain countries can never fall into certain situations.

Tamale Peace March – November We did some further studies only to realise that, some disturbances that had occurred in some countries and even in some communities in Ghana started as a mere perception or rumour which did not attract much attention, only for the situation to go out of hand.

Tamale Peace March – November At the time people were saying nothing can happen in Ghana, nothing can happen in Ghana and I remember stressing that, this attitude towards such situations was very unfortunate and dangerous and announced our intention to lead a crusade for conscious planning and implementation of peace promotion and conflict prevention activities in this time of absolute peace and in the midst of doubtful perceptions and rumours.

Tamale Peace March – November I mentioned that we should not fold our arms and say “nothing bad can happen” when there is a lot we can do to make something good happen or avert something bad happening. We wrote to almost every relevant authority including almost every prominent woman in Ghana to support us start a peace promotion campaign especially at the time that politics would not be read into activities.

Tamale Peace March – November I heard on radio the other day, some people condemning the numerous peace videos on television. They may be right because tensions are now high and even politics are being read into those efforts. As an Akan adage goes, “you should not stand in ants and pluck them from biting your skin”.

Tamale Peace March – November It now seems too late for anything meaningful to be done but Ananse Reach Concept and all children of Ghana will not relent in our efforts to let every Ghanaian know that we are not just for peace but for the very survival of children as the future generation.

Tamale Peace March – November We are weak and we cannot defend ourselves and no matter who wins at the end of the day, we will be left with a lasting memory of destruction, chaos and death which will not be good for any of us. This was our motivation for starting this peace campaign over the last two years and it still is our concern.

Tamale Peace March – November My brothers and sisters let me tell you why we have to work with all our might to avert any disturbances in Ghana. I will start with the Ananse Statement, a message sent down by our Founder that I presented on the 6 th of March 2008 to Government and Parliament through the Northern Regional Minister.

Tamale Peace March – November We beg God to assist us impress upon all people in Ghana especially our Grandparents and Parents who are into politics and our chiefs that: We and our mothers and sisters are weak and we cannot defend ourselves and we cannot even run away when there is a conflict We might get killed and our dream of becoming parents and grandparents in the future like them will be terminated prematurely.

Tamale Peace March – November They as our grandfathers or fathers might get killed and we will never see them again. We will have no one to drop us in school or correct us when we go wrong. The man they might kill when there is war might be our friend’s father who also needs him and therefore is appealing just like we are doing. They should always remember that we love them so much and we want them to be with us always.

Tamale Peace March – November I must say we have done all we can to avert any disturbances in Ghana using our might, our little pockets, sometimes our snack monies and our time, some of us even were working during our BECE exams. Radio stations even charge us to talk on peace for our dear country including the one who charges and collects the money. On one peace seeking trip to the Upper West Region, I had to travel with a 207 bus on the Damango road nearly losing my life after the front tyre burst.

Tamale Peace March – November I am compelled by all these difficult and life- threatening situations to painfully mention that we the children have been neglected totally by our mothers and I believe we all know a home that is neglected by the mother is more than a broken one. I do not want to conclude that Ghana is a broken home because the women we look up to as mothers of Ghana have neglected the children of Ghana.

Tamale Peace March – November I will not mention any name but Grandmas and Aunties, I wrote to you in May 2008 to give us just parental backing in this our difficult drive but I must say, apart from Nana Oye Lithur, none of you has even responded with just a phone-call. We had it tough even to get money to pay FEDEX to send your letters but sadly I have not heard from you.

Tamale Peace March – November I also wrote to a respected organization to assist us have a forum for all potential first ladies for them to tell we the children what they will do to influence policy to make children relevant in Ghana and I am of the hope that we will have a response from them soon.

Tamale Peace March – November Mothers play a vital role in the home and as children, when we are in need, we talk to our mothers first, when daddy is angry it is mummy who cools him down, when daddy makes a bad statement, it is mummy who tries to correct him and when daddy is going to fight another man, it is mummy who calms him down and stops the fight.

Tamale Peace March – November My message is just simple, without our mothers getting seriously involved, there can never be peace in any country and without our mothers’ commitment, children will never enjoy life. My mission this time is to push for Ghana to be considered as a home and a home that mothers play a vital role and mothers that children can relate to in time of need and in times of danger.

Tamale Peace March – November It is coming to a point where it may take a regimental approach to deal with the problem at stake. The next Ananse Peace Train is coming off in Sunyani and if by that time our mothers are still turning down our plea to support us make Ghana a peaceful country, I will stop eating till they do, maybe one child will have to suffer or be sacrificed to enable millions of other children live in peace.

Tamale Peace March – November I thank you all very much and till the 25 th of November when you may hear from me in Sunyani, keep on praying for peace and for our mothers to heed our call. God bless us all!!! – Speech read on behalf of the National President - Tamale

We could not continue with our planned nationwide peace campaign; why?  We had to pay the media for talking about peace.  We had pay for the use of state parks for children to converge on to deliver our peace messages  We wrote to some Ministries, prominent mothers in Ghana, civil society and potential first ladies to intervene on our behalf but no help came our way.  We wrote to corporate bodies in Ghana to sponsor the airtime charged us.  We did not have a reliable vehicle to travel in.  Our efforts to get a mother or the District Assemblies to house us failed and the 3 of us (Founder, Co-Founder and President) had to lodge in hotels which was not good for us children.  We had exhausted our little savings after Upper West, Northern Region and Brong- Ahafo Region.  Sadly we had to abandon the peace campaign.