A Security Consultant, Dr Adam Bonaa has said deploying full-force security to deal with the conflict situation in Bawku is not the best solution.
In his view, even though it is important that the law is made to work, deploying all-out security to the area should go with other measures.
Speaking in an interview with Martin Asiedu Darteh on the mid-day news on TV3 Wednesday, April 5, Dr Bonaa stated that the sponsors of the conflict are well-known but what is lacking is the political will to arrest them.
He said “The all-out security approach, the military, and police intervention shouldn’t be the only solution…let us look at other angles of dealing with the conflicts in Bawku.
“Those who are fuelling the war in Bawku are known people, I know some of them, they know them, and no one can tell me we do not know the warlords, what is taking is the political will to go after them.”
He added, “The onus is on the president, if he puts his foot down and says this conflict should stop in the next one month, it will stop.”
For his part, Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament Samuel Nartey George said there is an urgent need to investigate how some residents of Bawku came by sophisticated weapons on them.
Sam George says the kind of weapons in the hands of the residents makes a case for a thorough investigation.
His comments come after one officer of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) was shot dead by unknown assailants in conflict-prone Bawku in the Upper East Region.
Two other officers are fighting for their lives at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, where they were rushed after the incident.
The three were attacked Monday night on their way to Missiga station.
It’s unclear what the motive of the attackers were but their action is said to be related to the protracted ethnic conflict in the area.
Speaking on the Big Issue on TV3 Wednesday, April 5 on the conflict situation in Bawku, the opposition lawmaker said “If you talk to people on the ground of Bawku, the caliber of weaponry on the grounds in Bawku, it is a war. How are they getting the weapons? How are they getting the ammunition? Who is resourcing that conflict in Bawku? These are the fundamental questions we must ask ourselves.
“How big is Bawku? What is the population of Bawku? Can’t our intelligence wing, be it National Security or NIB and all the amorphous institutions we have who terrorize citizens for no reason, they are telling us that they can’t identify, using intelligence, who the kingpins are behind this thing to pick them up?
“So now our military cannot step into Bawku and we say we have an army and our Commander in Chief doesn’t see that there is a problem here.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana