Northern - National Peace Council

Council ChairmanMost Rev. Philip Naameh

Northern Regional Peace Council

About the Region

The chieftaincy conflict that broke out in Yendi, in March 2002, degenerated into wide scale violence leading to the death of the overload and 40 others in the Dagbon kingdom. It was alleged by a section of the society, that Gov’t lackadaisical attitude led to the unfortunate event. This situation brought about widespread mistrust among the citizenry. Gov’t neutrality was questioned and doubted.

The Northern regional Security Council set up the NORPAC (Northern Regional Peace Advisory council) before the 2004 general elections, as a pilot with the objective to work for peace before, during and after the 2004 elections.

The NORPAC contributed significantly to peace initiatives in the region before, during and after the elections. It gained respect for its role in peace building in the northern region of Ghana. From then on with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), activities of NORPAC intensified and other regions began to come on board culminating in the National Peace Council before the 2008 elections. This Council worked without a legal backing but fully recognised by Ghanaians in terms of the immense role it played in the elections of 2008.

Regional Executive Secretary

Profile

Fr. Thaddeus Kuusah is a priest of the Archdiocese of Tamale where he has been working for the past twenty one years. He comes from Nandom in the Upper West Region of Ghana and schooled in St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary in WA. After his ordination in 1997, he went to do his Masters in Social Science with specialization in Social Communications at the Gregorian University in Rome.

Upon return to the diocese in 2003, he has been in charge of the department of Social Communications and part time teaching in the Major Seminary in Tamale. He has also been in charge of the Justice and Peace Commission since 2005 and also the Satellite Peace Centre of the Archdiocese till date.

He has worked since 2004 with Regional Peace Council in the Northern Region first as chairman and now as Executive Secretary. He is also the Board Chairman of WANEP-Ghana.

He has mediated and still mediating in many conflicts situations in the Northern Region of Ghana. He has great passion for reconciling broken relationships at the individual and community levels.

In brief, Fr. Thaddeus Kuusah whole life and ministry till now has been in Peacebuilding a ministry he considers as a vocation, as a calling to contribute to peaceful and stable communities in the Northern Region and Ghana as a whole.