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Would President J.A Kufuor go to Bawku as requested by Mr. Mahama Ayariga MP for Bawku Central? Mr. Ayariga has called on the President to intervene directly to resolve the crisis there. |
He said the warring factions want the President to lead the peace talks currently going on. His call has been supported by the MP for Tamale North, Alhaji Abubakar Sumani who argued that the military presence in the area was not enough to bring about enduring peace.
But report government sources have revealed that the president is still considering his options. Ms Oboshie Sai-Cofie. Minister of Information and National Orientation was in no position to give a direct answer as to which option the president would adopt.
“I don’t know whether he will go or not” was all that media could elicit from the Minister.
When asked which would be more prudent, should the President go on not, the Minister said, “I have heard discussions on that, but I have not really thought about it.”
But a source at the Osu Castle told reporter, “the President may not go to Bawku now because he trusts the people who are leading the peace talks”.
Though he is not in Bawku, the source said, “the President is abreast with all the issues in the area and always advices accordingly”.
The Mamprusis and Kusasis have engaged in violent chieftaincy clashes over many years and on New Year’s Eve 2007 it boiled over again and claimed many lives and led to the destruction of property.
The resultant insecurity in the Bawku Municipality and its surrounding areas has led to a dusk to dawn curfew being imposed on the area which still remains volatile. Whereas chieftaincy disputes in the country are usually within a particular ethnic group, the Bawku conflict is between two ethnic groups, the Kusasis and Mamprusis, which potentially, makes it more dangerous and cancerous.
The Dagbon conflict which led to the death of the Ya Na was between Dagombas – the so called Abudus and Andanis and the recent Anlo conflict was also restricted to the Ewes of Anloland.
The call therefore for President Kufuor to talk to the two sides personally is a double-edged sword since the slightest “suspicion” by one of the warring ethnic groups about the president’s integrity and neutrality is enough to tip the scales to further disagreement and conflict.
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