Children appeal for peaceful elections

Some children drawn from some basic schools in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region have expressed the need for all to ensure peaceful elections in December to guarantee their safety and rights.

Master Kingsley Kpenye, a student from Kanvili Roman Catholic Junior High School, who read a statement on behalf of his mates, called for a peaceful country to guarantee their education, promotion of laws that protected them, health facilities, adequately trained teachers and an end to child abuse.
Master Kenya said, "At the end of the 2020 general election, Ghana will win and when Ghana wins, children win."

He read the statement at a forum organised in Tamale by Children Believe, an international non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with Calgary Family Assessment Model, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The event held on the theme: "Election 2020: A win for children", was to solicit the expectations and views of children on issues affecting their growth and development in the country.

Madam Esenam Kavi De Souza, Country Director of Children Believe said children, over the years, suffered various degrees of discrimination including; not being involved in major decision making in the country.

Madam De Souza said, "This is the gap Children Believe and its partners seek to bridge-providing children and their communities with a safe means to participate in monitoring the performance of child protection systems and holding government accountable."

Madam Emma Joan-Halm, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Officer at UNICEF advised children to be diligent in whatever they do saying "I will admonish you to work hard in school and at home so that you can become responsible sons and daughters in our country, desire for rights without responsibility is not healthy for our development."

Madam Bushira Alhassan, Acting Northern Regional Director of the Department of Gender advised children to be ambitious, saying "You need to have a dream as a child, most children who, are not focus-driven, are prone to so many abuses in society."