The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu is calling for peace in areas in the Upper East Region where they have been protracted conflicts.
The Minister explained that the people in Doba, Kandiga and Bawku must realize that their long-drawn conflicts have not been profitable.
Mr. Yakubu reminded the feuding factions about the many dangers associated with conflicts. He said this when he spoke to A1 Radio’s Mark Smith.
“I always tell people that when conflicts come, we should sit down and talk. That is the only way we can resolve these issues. Sometimes, people think they can kill each other to solve the problems. The Bawku issue [for example] has been going on even before I was born. Fighting with guns has not solved the problems.”
“I will use this medium to appeal to all the factions, the Kusaasis and Mamprusis to sit down and talk. They have been living together for years. Bawku was a very vibrant town but now I have difficulty trying to bring back life to Bawku.”
“It [the conflict] is affecting health, education and the movement of people. Some of these things that we do in Bawku, for example, curfews, not allowing people to ride motorbikes and not allowing people to wear their fugu and all that; we take these decisions with pain because we want people to live their lives as they want.”
It would be recalled that the chiefs of Doba and Kandiga have both pledged to allow peace to prevail in their communities after years of protracted conflict that has claimed lives and destroyed properties.
The twin communities that intermarry, have been at loggerheads over who is the rightful owner of a piece of land.
It is against this backdrop that the Paramount Chief of Sirigu, Naba Roland Atogumdeya Akwara III together with other chiefs, who had started a peace process months ago, invited the two factions – Doba and Kandiga to the Sirigu chief’s palace to deliberate on ending the conflict.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
