A Security Analyst, Dr Adam Bonaa, has recollected that dialogue sessions were initially held to resolve the war situation in Bawku but the lack of budgetary support made it difficult for the mediation process to continue.
Dr Bonaa indicated that although the deployment of military and police officers to deal with the situation is good, dialogue sessions are equally important to get the fighters to stop their actions.
Speaking on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Monday, January 22, he said “Usually the Police and Military are deployed but anyone who understands conflict will tell you that, that is usually temporary, at the moment you can decide to send all our police officers and military to the Upper East and they will still be stretched, if you know the vast nature of the Upper East, you can imagine that this conflict has found its way into areas in Wale Wale, Bolgatanga, Binduri, Garu and so we need to use a multifaceted approach in dealing with this conflict.
“In 2022, a dialogue team left Accra to Bawku, I was part of it, the CDS, the IGP the Defence Minister, the Interior Minister all went to Bawku. Subsequent to that, the people told us we would not see any gunshots, no one would die, and they would stop fighting. For three months they stayed to do that but subsequently, the delegation promised they were going to come back in three weeks, but it has been more than a year and no one has gone back. When I checked it was because there was no allocation of funds to the heads of these agencies and the Ministry to go and do that. If you check the 2024 budget there is no budgetary allocation again to continue any form of dialogue in Bawku and so we are running around in circles and people are dying needlessly.
“You can put all your military and police officers in Bawku, if the people in Bawku decide to kill themselves and we are not engaging them through rightful strategies and measures in trying to let them silent the gun, we will just be pushing in human resources and all.
“What we are seeing today, some of us predicted it about a year ago and it is going to get worse unfortunately, but then I think that we have the opportunity to fix it and fix it right. The over-politicization of this conflict is another thing some of us have spoken about.”
Bawku has been in the news lately, because unknown gunmen earlier fired into a group of people at the community center in the town on Wednesday, January 17, resulting in the death of two persons, while four others were injured.
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Mr Mahama Ayariga described the incident as dastardly and unacceptable.
Mr Ayariga called on law enforcement agencies to act immediately to arrest and deal with the perpetrators.
Commenting on this matter earlier on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Thursday, January 18 with Alfred Ocansey, Mr Ayariga said “It is unfortunate that we continue to experience this situation that has caused so many lives to be lost, so many people to be injured and hospitalized and so much property to be lost in Bawku central constituency.
“…those who were killed yesterday, that was dastardly, that was unacceptable and the perpetrators must be searched for by the law enforcement agencies and dealt with.”
Another group pf gunmen also attacked a bus carrying students of the Presbyterian Nurses Training College, Bawku. This occurred near Binduri in the Upper East region on Friday, January 19.
Mr Ayariga confirmed the news on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, January 20.
Mr Ayariga said “It has been confirmed that such an incident happened.”
“The report I got is that the injuries are gunshot related injuries, we will ascertain the full details later.” A number of students who were injured due to the attack were rushed to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital for treatment.
The Minister for the Interior, by Executive Instrument, had renewed the curfew hours imposed on Bawku Municipality and its environs in the Upper East Region from 8:00 pm to 5:00 am effective Friday, January 12, 2024.
The government called on Chiefs, Elders, Opinion Leaders, Youth and people of the area to exercise restraint in the face of the challenges confronting them as well as to use non-violent means to channel their energies into ensuring peace.
Meanwhile, there is a total ban on all persons in the afore-mentioned communities and their environs from carrying arms, ammunition or any offensive weapon and any persons found with any arms or ammunition will be arrested and prosecuted.