Adopt Dagbon conflict roadmap to resolve Bawku conflict – Security Analyst

A Security Analyst, Samuel Nana Appiah is calling for the adoption of the roadmap that was employed in resolving the Dagbon Chietaincy crisis to deal with the recurring deaths and violence due to the Bawku conflict.

His call follows the killing of at least six people in a fresh attack in Bawku on Monday, January 22, afternoon.

This was after gunmen opened fire on a bus en route to a market in Binduri. This comes after 48 hours of relative calm in the town. The victims comprise two males and four females.

The incident unfolded when a bus transporting passengers to a market in the nearby Binduri District was ambushed by gunmen who indiscriminately opened fire on the vehicle.

On Friday, January 19, a parallel incident unfolded when a bus transporting approximately 45 students from the Presbyterian Nurses Training College, Bawku, was targeted in an attack by two motorbike-riding gunmen near Binduri in the Upper East region.

The assault resulted in multiple injuries among the students, who were promptly transported to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital for medical attention.

At the heart of the Bawku conflict is an agglomeration of issues about litigations over allodial rights and chieftaincy by the Kusasis and Mamprusis. Both the Kusasi and the Mamprusi claim allodial ownership of Bawku, claims which are shrouded in their narrative histories of origin and derived from claims of autochthony.

Speaking on the issue in an interview on Ghana Kasa show on Kasapa 102.5FM Tuesday, Security Analyst Samuel Nana Appiah who’s a retired Police Detective Officer, expressed confidence the adoption of the Dagbon Chieftaincy conflict roadmap will go a long way in resolving the protracted conflict which has left many people killed.

”Let’s adopt the roadmap that was used in solving the Dagbon Chieftaincy conflict as immediate as possible. Secondly, let’s identify people who understand conflict resolution mechanisms and bring them on board. We should also make a roadmap, documented pragmatic approach to guide the authorities to resolve the matter. The roadmap used in resolving the Dabgon crisis was very huge but at the end of the day peace was restored in Dagbon and since then there has not been any issue. I believe if we go the Dagbon way, there will be peace in Bawku.”