https://journal.ucc.edu.gh/index.php/ojoss <p>The OGUAA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (JOSS) is a publication by the faculty of Social Sciences, University of Cape Coast. The Journal aims to promote a high level of intellectual scholalrship at both individual and collective levels. To this end, JOSS provides space for articles , proceedings of seminars, symposia and workshops, book reviews as well as disucssion od topical issues of national/ international significance. All papers have relevance to the subject matters of the social sciences.</p> Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Cape Coast en-US Oguaa Journal of Social Sciences 2704-4793 https://journal.ucc.edu.gh/index.php/ojoss/article/view/919 <p>The complexity of contemporary violent conflicts requires a shift from the traditional notion that preventing conflicts and building peace reside within governments to include the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Using a qualitative research design with 20 in-depth interviews conducted with representatives of CSOs in northern Ghana, the study reveals three broad categories of CSOs namely Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs), Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations<br>(NGOs) performing conflict prevention and peacebuilding roles. These CSOs respond constructively to conflict using dialogue and mediation in different ways by using multiple instruments such as early warning systems and peace education for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The study shows that, unlike the state, CSOs worked towards conflict prevention and peacebuilding through local initiatives and partnership with communities. The dominant philosophy guiding CSOs’ work is the integrationist paradigm. One serious limitation identified in the conflict prevention and peacebuilding work of CSOs in northern Ghana is the lack of a common peacebuilding framework that can guide them to reduce the duplication of functions within the same space. The paper recommends that CSOs should forge a working partnership to roll out a comprehensive conflict prevention and peacebuilding activity to build sustainable peace for the development of the regions of northern Ghana.</p> Patrick Osei-Kufour Kaderi Noagah Bukari Copyright (c) 2022 Oguaa Journal of Social Sciences 2022-06-01 2022-06-01 10 1 1 17 10.47963/joss.v10i1.919 https://journal.ucc.edu.gh/index.php/ojoss/article/view/906 <p style="text-align: justify;">Using parliamentary questions as data and a corpus-assisted systemic functional approach through Wordsmith Tools, this paper, with specific reference to relational processes, explores yes/no interrogatives in order to establish how MPs encode in their questions issues of attitudes, commitments, personalities and ideas of (Prime) Ministers during Ghanaian Minister’s and UK Prime Minister’s Questions. The paper finds that MPs use yes/no interrogatives with relational processes to describe (Prime) Ministers as carriers of certain attributes relating to their positions and responsibilities, while some of the questions are issue- focused. To achieve this, MPs employ two main questioning strategies: person-targeted and idea-targeted pragmatic strategies, thereby raising issues of (Prime) Ministers’ credibility and commitment to duty. The paper has implications for parliamentary questions, party politics and MPs’ and (Prime) Ministers’ duties as representatives of their constituents.</p> Kwabena Sarfo Sarfo-Kantankah Copyright (c) 2022 Oguaa Journal of Social Sciences 2022-06-01 2022-06-01 10 1 18 33 10.47963/joss.v10i1.906