How ministers for defence, national security prevented me from intervening in Bawku conflict – Bagbin

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has opened up about how his efforts to help end the ongoing conflict in Bawku in the Upper East Region were curtailed by leading figures in the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.

Speaking in an interview on TV3 on September 10, 2024, Speaker Bagbin said that he had engaged the various stakeholders in the conflict who welcomed his efforts and were willing to help end the conflict in Bawku, adding that he only needed the support of the government.

He said that after begging the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul and the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, on several occasions, they refused to approve or support his mediation mission.

“There were a number of times I made requests to lead a non-partisan national team of senior citizens just because of my position as Speaker to Bawku to try to intervene, to try and find a solution to the problem there. And I begged the Minister of Defence, the Minister of the Interior, the national security minister a number of times just to give me that opportunity. But I cannot go there without their approval.

“And I would have set out a team of stakeholders to go there, visit and try to mediate. These requests were denied. If you know the history, it has to do with chieftaincy. In fact, it has to do with rulership - who is in charge? That basically is part of politics, part of governance. And so, you need people with that experience to be part and parcel of the mediation process,” the Speaker narrated.

He added, “And I thought our intervention could have made a difference. I held a meeting with the Members of Parliament and they endorsed it. I held a meeting with some of the senior citizens from the area in Accra. They endorsed it and they all wanted to see me there. I had to call the Ghana Police Service to inform them. They were very happy about it. But the ministers said no.”

Bagbin, who has served as a Member of Parliament for about 28 years, said that the ministers gave the excuse that he was going to inflame the situation in Bawku, which he categorically rejected.

“They gave some reasons that statements we could make there could inflame the situation. I disagreed with them and said we are mature enough not to make such statements,” he said.

The Speaker added that he was the person who helped resolve the chieftaincy conflict in Yendi when he was the Minority Leader of Parliament.

He said that with the support of the John Agyekum Kufuor government, he led a team to Yendi when the conflict was very tense and helped calm things before the government set up a committee to look into it.

“Even when Yendi was in flames, at that time, I was Minority Leader, I was the first to be in Yendi. The Yaa Naa’s palace was on fire when I got to Yendi but I intervened and I had to get the permission of the then Minister for Defence, Honourable Dr. Addo Kufuor. And he sent a team to go with me. I had my team and I intervened to calm down the situation before His Excellency President Kufuor could set up the commission.

“Other influential parties tried, particularly the New Patriotic Party, to read politics into it. And they came up with some publications. But at the end of the day, they realised that it was a peace mission. And as I see that, and that’s how I got to know that area very well because I moved to all the palaces of the paramount chiefs and personally interacted with them, listened to them and calmed them down. And I met them at meetings. The youth, the women, the chiefs and all stakeholders,” he narrated.

He added, “I met the security agencies, the police, the military, ...I met the prison service, the fire service. I interacted with all of them and I met the displaced women and their children and in fact, mobilised resources to donate food items to support them. So, we were able to bring down the tempest to calm the situation.”

TWI NEWS

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, also said he was hoping to do the same thing for the Bawku conflict but was denied access.

BAI/AE

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