The former Prime Minister and special adviser to the Office of the High Commissioner for Reconciliation and Strengthening National Unity (HCRRUN), Me Joseph Kokou Koffigoh gave advice to the new members of the Local Peace Committees (CLP), installed on 13 June in Lomé. Faced with the challenges awaiting the 273 members (7 per prefecture), in particular possible socio-political unrest in the prefectures, cantons, villages… and violent extremism, especially in the northern part, Me Koffigoh gave them useful advice.
Me Koffigoh urged these actors to respect the voluntary commitment. “There is no forced marriage in the relationship between HCRRUN and our CLPs. It is a voluntary commitment. And when you commit, you respect the term of commitment; it is a voluntary decision to work for a cause. You are expected to be people committed to defending the cause of peace,” he said.
The former Prime Minister also asks the members of the local peace committees installed to have the courage. This is, according to Me Koffigoh, an important quality. It is the ardor, the zeal to undertake something; determination or desire, strength of character in the face of danger. ” I who have dipped my fingers and toes in politics, I know that when it comes to the affairs of the State and a country, it takes a lot of courage “, he said. And to take up an exhortation from the prefect of Agoe-Nyivé who invited these men and women to a collective determination and to be the workers of wisdom and peace.
For the special adviser of HCRRUN, these members must also have love and attachment to the homeland. “As President Gnassingbé Eyadema used to say, no one chose the place of his birth. Where we are, where we live, the land God gave us is Togo. There is a special bond that binds us to this land. This feeling that we call patriotism is a fuel that constantly pushes us to act for the common good,” he explained to the members of the CLP, before inviting them to set an example. This in their family and in their environment. “When you are a CLP and you are often found drunk, you will find it difficult in case of disturbances to give advice to people. When you happen to raise lustful eyes towards someone else’s wife and a marital conflict arises in the village, when you open your mouth, you will be told, it is in your interest to keep quiet. This is why as soon as you are engaged, a bit like a priest or a pastor who carries out a priesthood, you must set an example,” he argued.
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Impartiality must also be their guide. Everyone, underlines the former Prime Minister, certainly has his political convictions but must be neutral. “When the president of HCRRUN invites us to welcome victims of political social unrest who are entitled to reparations within the framework of transitional justice, we are not trying to find out who is from UNIR, who is from the ANC, from the UFC, DMP, DMK…. HCRRUN is impartial”, he illustrated.
Furthermore, the creation of Local Peace Committees was in response to the will of the Togolese Government, assisted in this by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), to provide grassroots populations with endogenous mechanisms for conflict prevention, preservation and promotion of peace.
Atha ASSAN