Is Bawku turning into Ghana's Somalia?
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, June 9, Ghanadot - Bawku,
once prominent and vibrant city in the north-eastern corner
of Ghana is presently saddled with
protracted civil conflict said to be
caused by feuding chieftaincy disputes.
The people of Bawku well-endowed are now living in a state
of
destitution, deprivation, poverty, fear and high human
rights
violations.
This sordid situation is forced people from other peaceful
parts of
the country to liken Bawku as Ghana's Somalia.
Indeed, Bawku, a municipal capital of the Bawku Municipal
Assembly have some of the features
of the Somalia in the Eastern part of
Africa.
Somalia, for the past few decades,
is always at war, just like Bawku.
And both areas are occupied
predominantly by Muslims.
Currently, the Minister of Interior, Cletus Avoka, an
indigene of the
area has no option than to impose a 21-hour curfew on Bawku
and its
environ. Following a renewed skirmishes involving the
feuding
factions, the Kusasis and the Mamprusis on last week Sunday
in which
three persons lost their lives and several property were
destroyed.
In the latest incident, though 14 people were arrested for
fuelling
the conflict, one may not be surprised to see them on the
streets of
Bawku within some few days for lack of evidence, since this
has been
the norm of the Ghana Police Service.
The curfew being imposed on the inhabitants means that they
would not be able to go out and
ply their trade and transact other meaningful
businesses. Also reports have it that all the
schools, government offices and
private business entities in war-torn Bawku are being
closed.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanadot, The
Executive
Director of the Africa Peace Building Club, Salam Rahmani,
disclosed
that the Government of Ghana alone has so far spent a total
of
GH¢648million, to maintain law and order in the three
northern
regions, since 2002.
According to him, as at the end of October, 2002, more than
GH¢600 million had been sunk into
peace keeping in Yendi in the
Northern Region, while GH¢46,000 was also pumped into
maintaining
peace at Bawku and Zaare, both conflict zones in the Upper
East
Region.
He further revealed that since the conflict broke out in
2008 about
GH¢800 millon has spent by
government to stop the fight but alas no
one knows when it will die
off.
Amazingly, the President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta
Mills was in the region last
Saturday to attend a durbar organised in
his honour by the chiefs
and people of the Upper East Region, where
he pleaded with the
Mamprusis and Kusasis to give peace a chance to
prevail in the area.
However, after he left the area to the Upper West Region,
sporadic
shootting in the Bawku township broke
out, which resulted in the reported killing
of three persons.
This some papers reported that the President has been
embarrassed by the chiefs and
people of the area.
In his submission on this issue to some journalists, the
Executive
Director of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP),
Mr.
Emmanuel Bombande, pointed out that the President's personal
involvement, particularly by bringing
together the leaders of the two
factions, was crucial in resolving the conflict and
incidents like
last Sunday's shooting should not be allowed to derail the
laudable
initiative.
Mr. Bombande, who hails from the Bawku Municipality stressed
that
even though the President's
intervention was laudable, it was not the
end of the matter, and therefore called for a national
stakeholders'
meeting including the National Peace Council, the Bawku
Municipal
Assemby, traditional rulers, women and youth groups in Bawku
to find a lasting solution to the
conflict.
A Former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning,
Dr.
Ageshika Agambillah, attributed the causes of chieftaincy
conflicts in
Ghana, especially the Bawku Municipality to the existence of
several
claimants to one skin or stool, due to a number of factors.
To him, all these have dire consequences on the
socio-economic
development of the country.
He noted that the situation could lead to lack of investor
interest in
the strife-torn communities. "Will you build a house, or a
business,
in a community engulfed in conflict? If you won't, what do
you think
other Ghanaians or foreigners will think of your
conflict-wracked
community", Dr. Agambillah asked.
Dr. Agambillah, who is currently a lecturer at Ghana
Institute of
Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), suggested that
for Bawku for that matter Ghana to
see peace, there should be documentation and
agreement by stakeholders, on lines of succession,
for all traditional ruler
positions, politicians should stay out of chieftaincy
issues, and opinion leaders must
keep in constant touch with their
communities, to acquaint
themselves with what is happening in the
areas.
The government, he said, must increase investment in the
north,
adding, it is losing population to the south because there
is no work,
and limited business opportunities.
Dr. Agambillah, therefore, welcomed the previous
government's
establishment of the Northen Development Fund and the
current
government Savannah Development Agency, and called on it to
expedite action on their
implementations.
Ghanadot
