Introduce course on non-violence principles in honour of Annan
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has called for the introduction of a course on non-violence principles of the late former United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, in the country’s educational curriculum.
He said Mr Annan’s approach to conflict resolution helped to avert conflict in many parts of the world, which the youth ought to study and understand in conflict resolution.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh told the Daily Graphic that it was crucial for the country to keep Mr Annan’s memory alive in the youth by having a course in conflict resolution tied to his name in schools.
He said students would be encouraged to follow Mr Annan’s footsteps of using dialogue to resolve conflict instead of going physical or using weapons to cause havoc.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh said Ghana was seen as an oasis of peace in the sub-region and even beyond.
Therefore, he mentioned that it was crucial for them to leverage
Peace Centre
Mr Annoh-Dompreh said it had taken such a long time for Ghana to produce such a personality, hence the need for the country to cash in on his personality to project the name of Ghana and the name of Africa as a whole.
He, therefore, suggested that the country should build another centre of peace in honour of Mr Annan in addition to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre to teach conflict resolution and management.
He stated that Mr Annan’s peaceful demeanour was a reflection of the general demeanour of Ghanaians which needed to be highlighted.
“Ghana is seen as an oasis of peace in the sub-region and beyond. We need to make a lot of capital gain out of that,” he said.
Mr Annoh-Dompreh said the call by the Minority in Parliament for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to be named after Mr Annan was in order.
However, he said, the emphasis should not be on monuments but on how to propagate the ideals of Mr Annan for present and future generations.
Government’s support
Mr Annoh-Dompreh indicated that
"If we are able to do that, we would have celebrated him largely. If we look at what the South Africans did in relation to Mandela, we can also do same or more,” he said.