“Reconciliation”, The Only Solution To Dagbon Crisis

From: Stephen A.Quaye, Toronto-Canada.

Is past nine solid years since the overlord of Dagbon in the Northern Region was murdered and since that date, the area has known no peace. Have Ghanaians expressed much concern about the crisis in the area and contributed for peace to be brought to that area?

Maybe yes but their concerns or better still to say their efforts in working around the clock to bring peace to the area has not been much enough to help the people of one time peaceful area of Dagbon to live in cordiality after the death of their chief Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani.

The speculations people give about suspected murders, allegations sometimes leveled against innocent individuals suspected to have played a role in the gruesome murder all goes on to urge the factions or let us say the two gates to continue to pull the strings always creating deep tensions there.

But whatever it is, one could say that is too long for these loving Ghanaians in Dagbon to be fighting among themselves and that the time to tell them to stop the fight is now.

Can you recollect the number of people who have died since this tribal war started? The number of properties that have been destroyed through this war which is not paving way for development projects to be initiated for the people there to benefit?

It is very disturbing how this war has been allowed to rage on till date where the murder of the traditional chief has simply divided two families belonging to one traditional authority.

Maybe we have to accept that the attention we have been giving it has not been the best therefore allowing it to escalate to this point where political meanings are now being read into it which is wrong and must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

One needs to be careful talking about the issue because former president J.A.Kufuor, formed a committee to resolve the matter but could not see the end of it when he left office. It was expected that President John Evans Atta Mills would continue from where former president Kufuor left of and work to bring peace to the area.

However that was not so as former president J.J. Rawlings led a combine team of police and military men to conduct dawn swoop at Dagbon where suspected murderers of Yaa Naa were arrested and put before court in Accra.

The acquittal and discharge of these suspected murderers on March 29, 2011 at a fast tract high court in Accra, tells everyone that the approach adopted to bring peace to Dagbon which was to put suspected murderers before court was not the best as it has worsened the situation.

If not how can some persons alleged to be party faithful who were not happy about the court ruling set a party office on fire? They have every right to express their dissatisfaction about the court ruling but not to the extent of burning a party office as a way of showing their dissatisfaction.

Fellow Ghanaians, my opinion about how to solve Dagbon crisis is simple. It is time to tell our fellow beloved brothers and sisters from Dagbon to lay down their ammunitions and cease firing at one another and sit at a round table to formulate policies and programmes that will forever end this needless war that they are fighting.

Let us cast our minds back a little bit and we will realize that when president JA.Kufuor was sworn into office, he formed the national reconciliation commission to go into all complaints of inhuman treatments that were meted out to some members of the country which had created hatred at that time.

The commission, did a good job where the entire nation was purged of hatred and division as people came together to help build the nation. With the help of Bishop Palmer Buckle at that time, both victims and perpetrators were reconciled nicely.

We can do the same for our brothers and sisters in Dagbon to make sure that peace returns to the area. It is painful to lose a dear one as one will at all cost seek justice for his beloved one who has passed on.

But let us remember what the bible tells us in Deuteronomy 32:35 where God is telling us not to repay evil by evil since vengeance is his. By this command, Jesus Christ did not seek vengeance over his persecutors through his disciples.

Rather he said peace be unto you. Let us encourage our brothers and sisters from Dagbon to leave the judgment of murderers of Yaa Naa Yakubu Andani in the hands of the lord whiles they seek peace by allowing themselves to be reconciled at the round table.

“From other families apart from Abudus and Andanis, they cast their innocence because they are not fighting. Tell me really what are you fighting for all these nine years? You are fighting that war in a selfless tomb.

“It is really dark and little thinking to allow such war to rage on till now. It is time to have peace among you and to have peace is accepting to sit at reconciliatory table and unite as one people”. A word to the wise is to the Abudus and Adanis, not enough or in the North as some people have been saying.

End.