Dagbon Women Cry, As They March On Govt

Queen-mothers, wives, and princesses of the Andani Royal Family in the Dagbon kingdom embarked on a peaceful demonstration through the principal streets of Tamale on Monday, 10th December 2007, as way of putting pressure on the government and its agencies to find the killers of the late overlord of Dagbon Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II.

The queen-mothers and the other royals were joined by hundreds of Dagbon citizens who clearly identify with the pain and agony of the royal family members.

The significant thing about the procession was that the majority of the participants were women.

The protestors marched through the principal streets of Tamale amidst drumming and singing, and finally converged at the offices of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, where they presented a petition to the Regional Coordinating Director, for onward presentation to the president John Ajyekum Kufour.

Some of the placards displayed by the protestors read, “Mr. President find the killers of Yaa-Naa”; “We will not accept a breach of our custom”, amongst others.

The petition accuses the NPP government of complacency in finding the perpetrators of the gruesome murder of the Yaa-Naa and about 40 others. The petition also challenged the president to act in accordance with the promise that he made during his nationwide broadcast that he would use all the security apparatus to apprehend the killers.

The petition further restated the Andani family’s opposition to the performance of the funeral of Naa-Mahamadu Abdullai at the Gbewaa Palace.

It says such a move would be in breach of the Dagbon custom, which must not be sacrificed in the name of peace and reconciliation.

The petition tags the proposed final peace agreement document drafted by the committee of eminent chiefs as a “so-called” one, “bogus and fraudulent”. Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Police Commander E. O. Brakatu, says the procession was in breach of the public order act, since the organizers failed to adhere to the advice of the police service to postpone it.

But the organizers who say the procession was also to coincide with the UN day for freedom claim they met all requirements and cannot be cited for breach of the law, particularly as the procession was most peaceful with no report of any untoward happening.

It would be recalled that in April 2006, the then newly newly enskinned regent of Dagbon, Kampakuya-Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani, called on President J.A.Kufuor to work assiduously to ensure that those who offended the law, resulting in the murder of his father Ya-Na Yakubu Andani 11 on 27th March 2002 would be brought to book no matter their political background for total peace to prevail. That was some four years after the Ya-Na was killed in a most gruesome fashion after “three days of sustained gunfire”, as it was described by the then Minister of Interior, Malik Alhassan.

Significantly, at the time the Ya-Na was under the “three days of sustained gunfire”, Hon. Malik Alhassan, who also happened to have been the MP for the Yendi constituency (which he still is), was making very strenuous efforts to get the people of Ghana to believe that media reports, particularly reports on Joy FM, that the Ya-Na and his palace had come under gunfire attack were all false.

Hon. Malik consistently told the Ghanaian public that he was in constant touch with Yendi and that the place was “calm”, only for him to come and tell Ghanaians after the Ya-Na had been killed denied that there was “three days of sustained gunfire” and that the Police and Military personnel stationed at Yendi could not go to the rescue of the Ya-Na because “they were afraid for their lives”.

Incredibly, almost six years after the killing of the Ya-Na in broad-daylight after “three days of sustained gunfire”, not even a single person has been brought to book for that dastardly act.

It is this apparent lack of interest in pursuing the perpetrators and bringing them to justice that has compelled the women of Dagbon, led by the queen-mothers, to embark on the demonstration as a way of bringing pressure to bear on the government to find the killers.

Most obsevers have interpreted government’s apparent lack of interest in finding the killers of the Ya-Na to mean that government is covering up for the sponsors of the assassins since arresting the assassins could lead to discovery of their sponsors.