MPs weep over Yendi crisis

Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Yendi crisis broke down in tears when Gbanzagali, the senior wife of the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, Paramount Chief of Dagbon Traditional Area, narrated to them how her husband was killed.

Holding a group picture of Ya-Na, President John Agyekum Kufuor and Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, former Interior Minister, Gbanzagli said the Ya-Na expressed concern about rumours that if the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the 2000 election he would either be removed or killed.

She said President Kufuor denied the rumours and said that was not part of the agenda of the NPP. According to her ''the Ya-Na made President Kufuor to swear an oath to that effect.'' Gbanzagli broke down in tears at this point and the MPs could also not control their tears.

Gbanzagli said since the incident no senior government official had visited the widows to console them. Twenty-eight of Ya-Na Yakubu's wives are staying in one house in Tamale belonging to Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama, his nephew and Counsel for the Andani’s Family. The MPs, who are assessing the security situation and the impact of the state of emergency on the socio-economic activities in Dagbon, gave the widows 200,000 cedis.