Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Tuesday, proposed to ECOWAS to consider providing budgetary allocation, from the Sub-regional levies, to professional Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for productive engagements in the common interest of citizens.
The Business Community, he said, should also sustain their investments in peace and security by providing financial support to these CSOs.
The missing link in the ongoing efforts to consolidate peace and development in Africa, Dr Bawumia noted, was the absence of the formal involvement of business operators and investors in the peace process, he noted.
Vice President Bawumia was addressing a programme to launch the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), in Accra, on the theme: “Twenty Years of Peace Building in West Africa”. It was also to launch the West African Peace Fellowship.
Dr Bawumia, therefore, called for stronger collaboration among governments, the Business Community and CSOs towards deepening democracy, peace and security in Africa.
This partnership would lead to the strengthening of early warning systems on conflicts, national peace building infrastructure and the enhancement of preparedness and response to security threat.
The event brought together some leaders in the Sub-region, including Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambers, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel; and Mr Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, a former President of ECOWAS and a Former Prime Minister of Burkina Faso. It was also attended by Lieutenant General Obed Boamah Akwa, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Ministers of State, members of the Diplomatic Community, CSOs and academia,
Vice President Bawumia lauded WANEP for its accomplishment in peace building in West Africa and acknowledged the contribution of all those who were supporting the operations of the Organisation.
He compared peace to fresh air, explaining that when air was fouled by a pungent smell, people desperately gasped for fresh air, likewise the disruption of the peace by conflicts left every one virtually striving for it.
Every individual, in the Sub-region, should, therefore, not take the peace for granted but endeavour to preserve it to promote development.
Peace was also an essential element for every government to be able to create jobs, undertake infrastructural development and provide the services needed by the citizenry.
On the contributions of CSOs, he said, their complementary roles were very critical for strengthening and consolidating democracy.
He, however, observed a general mistrust between governments and CSOs, resulting sometimes in ineffective collaboration, low capacity and other challenges, which limited their leverage in the pursuit of peace and harmony.
“Lack of political will and trust deficit between CSOs and national governments pose challenges in the work of CSOs; while many CSOs lack the capacity to engage state institutions and policy-makers in order to influence policy directions and actions towards peace and, security and other development areas”.
Additionally, the lack of professionalism, synergies and coherence of activities among CSOs, often resulted in competition and the duplication of activities, thus undermining their full impact on society.
The Vice President, however, lauded WANEP for its role in deepening peace and security within the West African sub-region.
Over the years, WANEP, he noted, had demonstrated its competences in mitigating election conflicts through its election monitoring, enhancing the capacity of election management bodies, and research, which had helped in preventing electoral violence in the Sub-region.
The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) was established in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s.
It has since successfully established a Regional Office in Ghana and National Network Secretariats in all the 15 ECOWAS member states.
It has more than 550 network member organisations, whose expertise span various thematic areas in the field of peace and security.
Source: GNA
