Gbarnga, Bong County – The Peace Building Office at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in collaboration with the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) based in South Africa has ended a three-day election dispute management training in Gbarnga, Bong County.
The training was aimed at empowering youth of various political parties and civil society organizations on how to manage election disputes ahead of the October 10, 2017 Presidential and Representatives elections.
The participants in several counts resolution promised to remain peaceful during and after the electoral process.
They also committed themselves to refrain from all derogatory words such as hate messages, inflammatory and divisive speeches that have the propensity of undermining peace and democracy in Liberia.
According to the civil society and political parties youths, they have resolved and agreed to say “Yes to Peace” and “No to Violence”, as well as be ambassadors of peace in their various organizations/institutions, communities, and counties.
They lauded the Peace Building Office and ACCORD for the knowledge acquired during the three day training and called on all Liberians to do away with violence during and after the October elections.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Peace Building Office at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Edward Mulbah, commended the participants for the way they conducted themselves during the three days training, and urged them to remain committed to the resolution they crafted, signed and adopted at the end of the Gbarnga training.
Mr. Mulbah said the PBO in collaboration with ACCORD has covered the entire country with the election disputes management training.
“This is a bench-mark achievement which we must applaud ourselves”, the Executive Director of the Peace Building Office lamented.
According to him, the Gbarnga training was the last in the series of three regional workshops on election dispute management. He disclosed that the first was held few months ago at a local hotel in Monrovia where participants from five counties assembled for three days.
Similarly he noted, another group of participants from five counties gathered in Zwedru city, Grand Gedeh County for the same purpose.
Mr. Mulbah assured that all of the participants of the three regional trainings are now capacitated to handle election matters using the non-violent approach.
For her part, Bong County Superintendent Selena Mappy thanked the PBO and ACCORD for the beautiful training involving young people of Liberia.
Superintendent Mappy said the youth are not always responsible for violence in the country, and noted that the older generation most often blamed for violence in the country because they plan it and encourage the young people to join them.
In brief remark, Mr. Kwezi Mngyibisa of the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) based in South Africa, thanked the participants for committing themselves to a violence free elections in October this year.
Mr. Mngyibisa also commended authorities and citizens of Bong County for the support to the three days exercise and wished Liberia a free, fair, peaceful, transparent, and violence-free election.
The training brought together thirty participants from five counties including, Grand, Bassa, Margibi, Lofa, Nimba, and Bong.
It was held under the theme ‘Promoting Peaceful And Inclusive 2017 Elections’.