Director of the Directorate of Governance, Justice and Peace at the National Catholic Secretariat, Rev. Fr. Michael Kobina Ackon Quaicoe has highlighted the Catholic Church’s crucial role in fostering peace and security in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
In an interview with GH One TV on July 25, Fr. Quaicoe emphasised the significance of the upcoming Sahel Peace Initiative Forum, scheduled for July 30-31 at the Accra International Conference Centre.
“The Sahel Peace Initiative is aimed at combating the threat of jihadism at Ghana’s borders and regions across West Africa. We are looking at how we can mobilize stakeholder action in prevention and combating extremist attacks,” Fr. Quaicoe stated.
Speaking on the role of the church, he explained, “The role of the church is manyfold. Because the Church understands its mission from its divine master as the mother of humanity and therefore, to care for everyone. The Church’s action shows itself in mostly soft power actions in how we use discourse. How we engage stakeholders. How we engage fighting factions. The church does this on both the national and local levels.”
Fr. Quaicoe also outlined the forum’s objectives in relation to Ghana’s upcoming elections and recent instances of violence.
“The forum is one of the Church’s concrete efforts to augment what it believes is the role of government and essentially what is the role of the entire society to keep society safe, to make sure that people find a conducive environment for development,” he remarked.
He concluded by stressing the inclusive nature of the forum, stating, “Everyone is a stakeholder. The reason why this event will also be streamed for those who will not be there in person.”
Approximately 200 participants from various sectors, including political parties, civil society organizations, women’s groups, police, and the Electoral Commission, are expected to participate in the Sahel Peace Initiative Forum.
For some time now, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has been embarking on a project to promote peace and build a cohesive society in response to the looming threats of violent extremism in the West African Sub-region.
The Conference with funding from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), has been training religious leaders on inter-religious dialogue as a strategy to counter violent extremism.
The Sahel Peace Initiative which is the Catholic Church’s response to the unprecedented violence being meted out to civilians in the Sahel Region, is adopting country-specific strategies based on local contexts.
In Ghana, the strategy is to tackle the spillover of insecurity from the Sahel with funding and technical support from the CRS.
