BAWKU TRADITIONAL COUNCIL COMMITTED TO PEACE ...(Page 34) Monday January 21,2008

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bawku

THE Bawku Traditional Council has given the assurance that it is committed to the welfare of all the people in the area irrespective of their ethnic differences. The council has, therefore, appealed to the people in the traditional area to exercise restraint “in these trying moments”.
The President of the council, Nana Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, said this in a statement read on his behalf by the Chief of Kusanaba, Patrick Atia Ayarim II, at a news conference at Bawku.
The news conference followed the recent ethnic conflict at Bawku.
“Although the guns are silent, the current situation in Bawku, as we see it, is that the area is divided into hostile zones with Mamprusis based in their enclave between the centre of the town and the Bawku Hospital, and the Kusasis virtually surrounding the Mamprusi enclave, such that members of each community cannot cross into ‘the enemy territory’ and get out scot-free, unless they are escorted by members of the security agencies. This is certainly not a healthy state of affairs,” the statement said.
The council called for the restoration of normalcy to the area as quickly as possible to enable all the people to move freely in pursuit of their means of livelihood.
The statement stressed that “after all said and done, we are all one people with a common destiny”.
The Bawku Naba said as far as the council was concerned, the Bawku chieftaincy crises had been resolved by the highest courts of the land and that should end the matter. “Government and state institutions concerned need to tell the Mamprusis the truth of the matter. The Bawku chieftaincy dispute has been settled for ever,” the statement said.
It further appealed to government officials in particular to stop condoning the operation of a parallel chieftaincy in Bawku by “visiting a supposed regent’s home and addressing him as a regent. This attitude gives false hopes to the Mamprusis that they can be chiefs or are chiefs, which is not the case”.
“There can be no genuine peace unless the Mamprusis are told the truth of the matter, which is that the chieftaincy matter has been settled, concluded and buried so that they can understand and appreciate it. The Kusasis are committed to peace, stability and the development of the Bawku area and will not do anything to undermine this,” the statement said.
In the view of the council, the rule of law must be enforced and that no individual or group should be allowed to use violence in pursuit of their private agenda.