N/R Security Council warns troublemakers

Tamale, Oct. 26, GNA - The Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) on Wednesday warned that anyone who attempted to foment trouble in the Region would be dealt with according to the law. It said Chiefs, Kingmakers or Youth Leaders, whose actions were geared toward derailing the peace process in the Region, would not be spared.

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister and Chairman of the REGSEC, gave the warning at an emergency meeting of the Council in Tamale.

The meeting was convened to find ways of preventing a misunderstanding between contestants to the Skin of Tishigu in Tamale from escalating.

The REGSEC appealed to the people of the area to set their minds towards rebuilding a united, strong and peaceful Dagbon as a haven for investors and tourists so that the clock of progress would not be set back.

The Chogu Naa, Alhaji Salifu Alhassan, who is the Kingmaker of the Tishigu Skin, and the two contestants were made to sign an undertaking to ensure that the prevailing peace in the area was not disturbed. Alhaji Idris said: "I am a native of the Region and I would not do anything to bring disrespect to the chieftaincy institutions. Neither will I sit down for any group or individuals, who don't want development to bring the clock of progress backwards."

Alhaji Idris said: "It is time we said enough is enough to killing each other; maiming our brothers and sisters and undermining law and order in the name of chieftaincy to the detriment of peace and development. The rest of the country is now fed up with negative reports from this Region. We need peace to progress."

He advised chiefs in all areas that had chieftaincy problems in the Region to warn their people particularly the "Na Chin Nas" (Youth Leaders) to comport themselves in chieftaincy matters since they were not above the laws of the country.

He said as far as he remained the Chairman of the REGSEC he would ensure that those who flouted the law were dealt with according to it and that no one should come to him for favours if he or she was found culpable.

Alhaji Idris said chieftaincy matters were purely traditional and that the Kingmakers were abreast with norms guiding the process saying: "I cannot come here as a political leader to get involved in chieftaincy matters or use my position to lock my people up.

"But where it concerns the loss of lives, the REGSEC would not sit down for innocent people to continue to die in conflicts. The Police would arrest anyone, even if that person is a Chief and process him for court for the law to take its course", he said.

On another chieftaincy matter in Golinga, a community near Nyankpala, which led to the arrest and detention of one Naporo Fuseini on Tuesday, Alhaji Idris said he had no hand in his arrest and he would not facilitate his release.

He explained that Naporo and others signed a similar undertaking on August 24 2006 following a misunderstanding but he flouted it and that led to a clash on Tuesday night in which two people sustained cutlass wounds. The two are on admission at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. Alhaji Idris appealed to the media, particularly FM radio stations, to be circumspect when reporting on chieftaincy matters in order not to inflame passions and to derail the peace process.

He said REGSEC would take legal action against any radio station that would file misleading reports to escalate problems in the Region. Other members of REGSEC expressed worry that some people in the Region were trying to disturb the prevailing peace at a time that President John Agyekum Kufuor had launched the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) in the Region to accelerate its pace of development. They said they would do everything possible to ensure that Northern Region became violence-free so that investors could go there to operate in an atmosphere of peace.