peace promotion campaign election 2008 - brong ahafo

ANANSE REACH CONCEPT

Peace Promotion Campaign Election 2008 - Brong Ahafo

Why we fight for Peace

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.

Why we fight for Peace contd.

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.

Sunyani Peace March – November 2008.

My dear brothers and sister gathered, I wish to start first of all by congratulating the Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service for the love and care they exhibited to the all Ananses and the children of Tamale during what is described as the biggest and most peaceful child-driven demonstration ever in the world. I hear they kept on adding on more police personnel to be able to protect our brothers and sisters in Tamale.


I also want to congratulate my colleague Ananses and the children of Tamale for showing the entire nation that we are a peaceful people and the future is bright for all of us. I hear you came out in your large numbers running in several thousands covering a distance of more than 100 metres on the dual carriageway road. I am very happy that at least we the children despite the numerous challenges facing us are making strides and exhibiting hope for the future.


My brothers and sisters, I am going to try and be brief today since we are all tired and have to go back to school. My speech today is going to centre on two main issues; why we as children should be bothered at all about peace and secondly I will hint on a comprehensive campaign I am about to embark on to make children gain the required attention and recognition in society.


Why should we as children worry ourselves about peace in Ghana?You and I are weak and we cannot defend ourselves when there is a conflictYou 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.


How many of you here can stand even one of the situations I have mentioned? Yes and that is the character and effects of war. It is always a common practice to say that Ghana can never fall into certain situations. I consider this attitude towards such situations as very unfortunate and dangerous and as a responsive movement, we are poised to do all in our little mights to avert any conflict in Ghana and I want it on record that it is not only for election 2008 but forever.


My dear brothers and sisters, if you are here today, standing in this scorching sun, do not be angry, do not feel tired, do not be in a hurry to leave, do not say you are missing classes, for you are an instrument to save mother Ghana and our generation and I am very proud of you. Before I continue I will call Sister Memunatu Laadi to sing a song we made on peace for all of us to listen. It is in Dagbani and English. We will show the translation on placards for you to understand.


We started a crusade for peace in November 2007 that has since taken me round many parts of the country, undertaking radio programmes and addressing various audiences in places like Yendi, Wa, Sunyani and Accra and with the Northern Development Forum. All these we did with our little savings and some support from our parents. You will be amazed with the impact these activities are making however, being a children’s organisation and maybe headed by me as a female, we are fraught with numerous problems.


I sought the assistance of some prominent women in society including our potential first ladies as a child who needed parental guidance and protection to embark on an all-important child-driven nationwide peace campaign. Sadly and very strangely to me and my organisation, we have not received a single response even of encouragement.


Lack of the required support has occasionally brought us face to face with various dangers including even a motor accident. I want to humbly tell our mothers that maybe their refusal has made us stronger to do this all by ourselves but no matter what, we will still need them in everything we do as children so we are still calling. It would have been the best scene today if they were around us today giving us all the motherly encouragement.


The reason why I am stressing on our distinguished ladies is that naturally, mothers play a vital role in the home and as children, when we are in need, we feel more comfortable talking 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.


My message is just simple, we can march all peace marches, we can sing all peace songs and we can make all speeches but without our mothers and children 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 viewed as a home and a home that mothers play a vital role and mothers that children can relate to in times of need and in times of danger.


A Ghana where children are viewed with some level of respect and supported to develop. To be specific I want all of you to join me in fighting for:-


A Ghana where little children will not have to pay radio and TV stations to talk on peace or national development or anything that affect them.


A Ghana where little children can use state facilities like this park free of charge when campaigning for peace and national development.


A Ghana where good initiatives by children are supported by the stateA Ghana with child-friendly facilities like well equipped children’s park in all Districts and towns.


A Ghana where there will be a “people’s Assembly” for children also for us to interact with the President or his Ministers to share our problems with them.Infact a Ghana which is sincerely committed to its Children’s ACT that is ACT 560.


And most importantly, a Ghana where first and second ladies or distinguished ladies will be given the mandate and maybe a budget to be mothers to all children in the country, fighting for children’s welfare just like what Grandma Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and Grandma Theresa Kuffuor have done and continue to do through their respective NGOs.


Failing to impress upon our distinguished mothers to support us with written letters and still considering their role as very important, I am left with no other option than to embark on a regimental approach to deal with the problem at stake.


Maybe if one child suffers unduly or is sacrificed to attract the necessary attention, millions of other children will live in peace and in happiness.


With this, I humbly and respectfully ask the Regional Police Commander to grant me permission to pitch a tent I have brought in the middle of the road here, I will not go back to school, I will not eat any food and I will live dangerously in the middle of the road till at least our 4 potential first ladies assure all children in Ghana that…


…they in their capacity even as potential first ladies and eventually the emerging first lady will be good mothers to all of us and they will be there to support us develop and to help us fight for a peaceful and child-friendly society.


Thank you and may God bless us all!

-Speech delivered by Anansewaa Emefa at the Sunyani Peace March.


Letter delivered to the Northern Regional command of the Ghana Police Service seeking to embark on a hunger strike action to compel aspiring first ladies and women in society to champion peace before, during and after the 2008 elections. “Acting not as a policeman but as a concerned parent” as he put it, the Regional Police commander turned down the request to protect the life and health of the determined Anansewaa Emefa who already showed signs of ill-health and exhaustion.

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.

peace promotion campaign election 2008 - brong ahafo

Documents

sunyani peace

children of tamale

children of soldiers

dear brothers

brong ahafo slide

serious trauma

dear daddy

peaceful people