ROTARY INT.TO HELP BUILD PEACE
ROTARY INT.TO HELP BUILD
PEACE June 22, 2012
BY
PETER ATOGEWE WEDAM
AG.PRO-UE/RCC
An international
non-governmental development oriented organization, Rotary International, has
pledged to work closely with government and other organizations to ensure peace
and stability in the Upper East Region during this year’s electioneering
campaigns and beyond.
The President of the
Bolgatanga Goodwill club of Rotary International, Pastor Emmanuel Atia, made
the pledge on the behalf of Rotary International at Bolgatanga during a
ceremony to officially outdoor the Bolgatanga Rotary club and also, present it
with a charter to complete its admission into Rotary International since it was
accepted on 17th August, 2011.
Rotary International
which operates in over 200 countries of the world mostly provides intervention
in the areas of peace and conflict prevention/ resolution, health, basic
education and literacy, water and sanitation.
He said the club has
noted with worry the recent pockets of communal clashes in some parts of the
country and warned especially the youth not allow themselves to be used by
unscrupulous politicians to foment
violence during the campaigns for the 2012 general elections.
Pastor Atia said he
and his colleagues in the club have all pledged to work for the development of
the Upper East Region especially in the areas of providing furniture for
schools, providing boreholes and hand-dug wells, extension of support for
health facilities and elimination of schools under trees saying, these fall in
line with the motto of Rotary International “service above self’’.
According to the Goodwill
Rotary club president, steps are being fashioned out to equip basket weavers
and other artisans in the region to maximize their output so as to increase
profits.
The District Governor
of District 9100 of Rotary International which covers Rotary members in many West
African countries including Ghana, Honourable Bouraima Salifu who presented the
charter to the Bolgatanga Goodwill Rotary club disclosed that the first Rotary
meeting was held in 1905 in the USA, while Rotary International first came to
Africa through South Africa in 1929. It was however in 1960 that the
organization was outdoored in Ghana and has since contributed significantly to
the country’s development.
D.G. Salifu who is based
in Benin entreated the fresh members of Rotary International to always operate
within the confines of the group’s values which are service, fellowship, integrity,
diversity and leadership. According to him, every committed Rotarian should be
guided by the four way test in all that he/she does, thinks and says. These are:
is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and friendship?
and Is it beneficial to all concerned?
Municipal Chief
Executive for Bolgatanga, Mr. Edward Ayiriba Ayagle who chaired the function
commended Rotary International saying since its inception in Ghana, Rotary has
over the decades complemented the work of government by extending development
projects to mostly rural areas. He observed that Rotary International has for
example provided boreholes for numerous communities, assisted the Ghana Health
Service and the Ghana Education Service in providing for the health and
education needs of Ghanaians respectively.
Mr. Ayagle advised Rotary
club members to attend meetings regularly and pay their dues since these will
further boost the assistance that Rotary can offer to many more Ghanaian
communities. He advised Rotary members not extend politics to Rotary meetings
and activities warning that, this act will wreck the very foundation on which Rotary
is built.
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