Northerners who engage in conflict must desist from such acts - ACP Awuni

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, has cautioned northerners in the three northern regions who are found of causing conflicts to desist from the practice since it was hindering development in the area.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, the ACP Awuni, who is the Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, expressed worry that the huge sums of monies that could have been channeled to the development of the three regions are rather used to ensure and maintain peace.

ACP Awuni, who is a native from Upper East Region, said no development can thrive in the atmosphere of violence and conflicts. He stated that, had it not been the perennial conflicts in the area, the region would have been developed and many investors would head to the area.

He admonished the people in the area not to allow themselves to be used by politicians in conflicts since most of them have parochial and selfish interests saying “it may surprise you to note that in times of conflicts most politicians inflate their budget in the name of maintaining peace just to make profit at the expense of developing your communities”.

He called on politicians who are found of meddling in chieftaincy issues to desist from that since it was one of the major causes of conflicts in the three northern regions.

ACP Awuni entreated all northerners who are outside the region especially those in the Diaspora to contribute their widows mites to the development of the area, saying he was not happy about the attitudes of some northerners who preferred to invest outside the region.

He said he has been making donations to schools at Zuarungu in Upper East and has also undertaken other development projects where a lot of youth in the region are currently engaged.

He called on political heads of the three northern regions especially Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives who are not pro-active to sit up by engaging the media to market the abundant potentials of the area to investors.

Northern Parliamentarians, he said, should endeavour to lobby for more developmental projects for the area and regretted that some of them could not even make useful contributions on the floor of Parliament and stressed on the need for them to sit up.**