Concerns expressed about State of Emergency in Dagbon

The Minority Leader, Mr. Alban Bagbin has called on Government to, as a matter of urgency, send the signal for peaceful discussions between the Abudu and Andani Gates embroiled in the Yendi Chieftaincy conflict to start reconciliation talks.

He said the absence of such a signal by government in bringing the two Gates together to sit down and talk and negotiate on the issue resulted in their rejection of the report of the Wuaku Commission.

Mr. Bagbin said this in Parliament when contributing to the debate on the Resolution for the extension of the State of Emergency in the Dagbon Traditional Area presented by the Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Interior, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor.

The Minority leader said there were various sources of traditional forms of arbitration and reconciliation that could go a long way to help in solving the conflict and advised against relying on official versions alone and to indicate other measures being made to solve the crisis.

Mr. Bagbin stressed the need for government to be seen to be neutral in the conflict and to be seen to be doing so that the people would be confident and reassured in assisting to finding lasting peace to the conflict that claimed many lives.

He said the conflict in the Dagbon area was not a problem for the government alone to solve adding that there were many people in the society including him who were prepared to collaborate with government to find lasting solutions to the crisis if they were approached for their support.

Mr. Bagbin cautioned against certain statements often made even in Parliament that could inflame passions and called on members to be dispassionate in their discussion on the issue so as not to aggravate the volatile situation.

He announced that a Northern Peace Conference was to be convened sometime in this year to consider various forms of conflicts in the area and come out with finding solutions to them.

Mr. Cletus Avoka, NDC- Bawku West said in the search for ensuring genuine peace there was the need to call a spade a spade and actually point out persons or institutions that failed to perform their duties during the conflict.

He said it was sad to note that some people in government and the security agencies who, to a large extend contributed and failed to perform their duties have not been reprimanded in the Report of the Wuaku Commission.

The member said it was time that government apologises to the people of Dagbon for the failure and inability of both government functionaries the security agencies to forestall the killing of the Ya-Na and the 39 other citizens of the area.

Mr. Avoka advised government to look at other areas of resolving the conflict and appeasing the affected people adding, "we must all be objective and transparent in our search for resolving the crisis". He said it was not enough for Ghana to pride herself for resolving conflicts in other countries when local regional or ethnic conflicts cannot be solved internally.

Minority Spokesman on Legal and Constitutional Affairs and NDC MP for Kumbungu, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, said it was disappointing that both Gates to the Yendi Chieftaincy rejected the report of the Wuaku Commission which is an indication that government has to explore other ways and sources of resolving the conflict.

He said if the security personnel deployed in the area were professionally negligent and nothing was done to reprimand them it would be difficult for the people to have any trust in any part of the report.

Alhaji Mumuni said there was a lot more to be done beyond the report of the Wuaku Commission to allay the people's fear and mistrust, adding that government has to get down town and fish for the real truth concerning the perpetrators and root cause of the Yendi Skin Affairs to be able to make informed decisions.