By Rev. Dr. Ismaila Awudu (Ph.D), General Overseer, REMI | Leadership, Policy & Governance Expert
Sometimes I weep for my people as a northerner and lament over the great legacy we use to have as a people being quickly eroded due to intolerance, meaningless internal and external politics, and ego.
When I was growing up I learned a lot about the goodwill of the northerners and I carried it with pride, our resilience, courage, intelligence, humility, trustworthiness,love for one another, good neighborliness, tolerance, respect for tradition and elders, loyalty and hardworking spirit which makes us unbreakable in the face of adversity.
These cherished attributes made people to trust a northerner blindly because you can always trust them to deliver and protect even with their lives. The security forces was full of them and so is other areas of our nations developments, which earned them the accolade “opepe ni” which means doing things right or following through with every instruction without compromise.
In the security force they earned the nickname “ master says”. These cherished nostalgic attributes even made people to sometimes take the northerners for granted due to their good heart, hospitality , loyalty and commitment to duty.
In Ghana’s struggle to gain independence from colonial rule, they have been at the forefront and that explains why the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah mostly wore the fugu or the smock and had many of them in his government so is the other political parties. They’ve helped tremendously to shape the political and economic landscape of Ghana even upto today.
Sadly, over the years a once peaceful region have been torn apart and the people pitch against each other by the vindictive politics in our nation through the guise of chieftaincy disputes something historically have been handled peacefully by the elders to allow coexistence and mutual agreement, because by the historical facts of the migration and settlement of the northerners, they supported each other during the period of wars and by that they had certain agreements of coexistence and even Chirftency either by rotational or family trees, and these have been observed peacefully until politicians infiltrated into the societal fiber of the people and their Enskinment traditionally, the result is what we see now in Bawku between the Mumprusi and the Kusasi’s.
The bitter truth is, no political government or party can successfully bring a lasting solution of peace to this long standing conflict because they are the engineers of it and are just playing the people for their own gain, one would not let the other succeed in bringing peace so as to score political points or earn the boasting right.
The other overlooked reason fueling some of these conflicts is the seemingly total neglect of successive governments failure to turn their attention toward them when it comes to fair and equitable distribution of the national cake or development, this has bottled a lot of anger over generations and the result is what we’re witnessing, a hot volcanic eruption of anger and resentment that is burning fiercely without restraint.
Additionally, generations after generations have come to witness the underdevelopment, extreme poverty and lack of respect for them by other tribes making them look inferior, irrespective of the fact that the northern sector of the country has a lot of resources both human, natural resources and arable lands for Agricultural development. They’ve witnessed many unfulfilled promises from both politicians and even those of their own in politics.
These unfortunate circumstances have gradually created a crack in the moral fiber of a society that ones was revered to become lawless because when you marginalize and trampled upon a people for far too long, they turn and resort to violence without thinking because they can’t bear their pain any longer and will look for avenues to release it, an unfortunate outcome that easily makes people with evil or ill intentions to chance on it to carry out their evil agenda and settle political scores.
These evil and racketeers of society and nation use these disenchanted and frustrated folks as paupers without they even realizing it that they’re being used to satisfy someone’s ego and benefits; and sadly enough that is the true picture or the underlying cause of all conflicts in the north and that of Bawku.
The issue of chieftaincy sparking intolerance coexistence is only a smoke screen of a more serious underlying issues explaining why over time there has not been a lasting and a peaceful solution to conflicts in the north, especially Bawku because every attempt of conflict resolution only scratches the surface and not the root cause. Proverbially like the saying goes “ the devil finds work for an idle hand”
When one feels disillusioned, frustrated, and can’t see his or way clear in life he or she becomes vulnerable to every bait to survive, likewise when one’s intolerance gets to the tipping point any little scratch like petrol and lighted fire will explode into flames and that is exactly the situation in bawku.
The northerners are tired of the underdevelopment, extreme poverty, the neglect, unfulfilled promises of politicians and total disrespect of their persons. This is the scenario in the oil Delta regions and the northern part of Nigeria and if care is not taken to really tackle the issues from the root as I have espoused earlier but rather continue with the political nice talks and security briefings a time is going to come when these fires will engulf all of us, because peace in Bawku is peace for Ghana.
In conclusion I would like to appeal to all the warring factions and the youth in bawku in particular to reconsider their actions, yes for a long time you’ve not been treated fairly, you’ve suffered many things but taking the law into your own hands to cause violence is not the solution and so is destroying of properties and causing mayhem. Stay in the side of justice through dialogue and not violence.
Also remember that irrespective of the long neglect and failed promises, hiding behind violence and continuous internal conflict only worsens the situation and plight of the region and the people, given room for potential investors and successive governments to shy away from investing in the region and bringing lasting development.
Conversely the youth allowing yourselves to be used as tools in the hands of either politicians or traditional power drinkers and society sabotages because of financial favors due to the lack and poverty situation only destroys your potentials and makes useless of your dignity and intelligence and continuous to send the northern regions into more abyss of poverty and despair.
You deserve better, cease fire and come together as neighbors who have coexisted for a long time to help build our cherished northern communities, allow the traditional protocols that has existed long before now and the elders to follow due cause of tradition and historical facts to settle the dispute and allow peace to prevail.
Lastly, irrespective of your political affiliations and anger in the face of this eruptive chieftaincy dispute especially the youth of Bawku remember Bawku comes first, its development and economic viability depends upon the peace in the region and you and not even your fathers, hence your continuous violence, vandalism and clashes with security forces and destruction of houses and properties only leaves Bawku in ruins and sends it backward in development which automatically will affect you the youth even the more. Note an eye for an eye only leaves everyone blind. Also remember violence and outburst of anger have never helped solve any problem but rather patience and dialogue.
Finally, my appeal to both the youth and elders of Bawku, please no matter how each factions feels right and holds an entitlement, don’t forget that with the current violence and destructions going on, you’ll only end up consuming yourselves and leave Bawku to lag behind in development, which will leave your able youth jobless, increase poverty, pandemic, economic hardship, rise in crime and violence, apathy of investors and any possible economic intervention will fail you.
The peace of Bawku lies in your hands and I would appeal to all who might behind fueling this violence to stop now because as these fire goes on it’ll engulf those of you who might have been behind instigating the youth to fight will eventually suffer the backlash which might be devastating. It’s said peace only blesses the peace maker to dwell in peace, the peace of Bawku is the development of Bawku, the peace of Bawku is the prosperity and health of it’s people, the peace of Bawku is the success and wellbeing of its youth and elderly, the peace of Bawku is the respect, dignity and prosperity of its chieftaincy.
Long live Ghana, Long live The Peace of the people of Bawku.