Kandiga-Doba conflict: Women cry out; they say enough is enough

More than one hundred (100) women from Doba, a community in the Kassena Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region, have marched to the Palace of the Navro-Pio, Pe Asagepaare II, the Paramount Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area to call on the chief to help find lasting peace to the conflict that they say, have dragged on for far too long.

The women, weeping and wailing, said they had had enough of the bloody conflict.

The women, after the renewed clash, found it necessary to visit the chief as they think he is in the best position to help resolve the conflict.

One person is said to have been shot dead after the renewed clashes.

The women also paid a visit to the Municipal Chief Executive of the Kasena Nankana Municipality, Joseph Adongo. Their mission was the same as with the chief.

Mr. Adongo said his office has been working hard to restore peace in the area. According to the Upper East Regional Police PRO, ASP David Fianko Okyere, five people have been arrested to assist in police investigations.

It would be recalled that in a recent interview, the Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly (KNM) has been overwhelmed by the cost of maintaining peace between the feuding factions in the Kandiga-Doba conflict.

According to Joseph Adongo, the MCE for the Kassena Nankana Municipal Assembly, the Assembly is spending in excess of Gh30,000 every month to feed, accommodate and provide fuel for the joint security team stationed in the area to help manage the conflict.

Mr Adongo said the continuous rise in the cost of running the peace operations in the area has become too much to bear. This, he said, is aside from the other socio-economic effects the conflict is having on residents in the area.

He said this when he appeared in a one-on-one interview with A1 Radio’s Mark Smith on Day Break Upper East.

“We have been with this particular fight for a very long time. There is a toll on the Assembly. The security there, it is the Assembly that is taking care of them. We feed them in the morning, afternoon and evening. We also provide fuel. Anytime there is an uprisal, we have to increase the security men there. We are spending a lot. We are likely not to be able to do a lot of projects just because of this particular conflict”.

“In a month, we should not be spending less than Ghc30,000. Porridge alone, if I tell you that in a month we owe more than Ghc3,000, you would not believe it. When the koko person is bringing the bill, you will come and see that, that alone is worth Ghc3,000 or Ghc4,000. With the security that we have there, every day they come to take fuel. They did not ask us to be fighting, that is what they will tell you,” he said.

A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana