Bawku clashes: Banks shut down

Some financial institutions such as the Agric Development Bank (ADB) and Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) have closed down their branches, including their Automotive Teller Machines (ATMs) in the Bawku municipality of the Upper East Region due to renewed communal clashes.

The action by the banks was to prevent their staff and clients from possibly getting hit by stray bullets because of the intermittent ethnic conflict in the municipality.

The situation has forced some residents to depend heavily on mobile banking options like MOMO while the vulnerable ones, especially pensioners and others who do not have access to such services, are left to their fate.

Some of the residents who spoke to Class 91.3 FM’s regional reporter, Moses Appiah, indicated that life in the area has been difficult and sad, at the same time, because their survival can no longer be guaranteed despite the presence of security personnel.

A worker at the Bawku Municipal Assembly explained that "Bawku is now like a ghost town... unlike the Bawku I grew up to know. People are now scared to even come out of their homes or rooms for fear of being possibly hit by a stray bullet."

She stressed that relevant institutions packing out make the situation dire because one can never tell if he or she can survive the next day.

"All these are happening due to how one can easily be hit by a flying bullet," he said.

She further indicated that buying and selling were no longer effective like they used to be, adding: "From Bolgatanga and other places are no longer coming to Bawku to buy goods or pass through to buy things from Togo."

Meanwhile, some nurses and student nurses at the Presbyterian Nursing Training College are also finding it difficult to operate and seeking transfers.