President says Bawku
conflict thwarts
development of
the area
Bolgatanga, May 28 Ghanadot/GNA
- President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday said the Bawku
conflict has thwarted the plans of Government to develop the
area and open it up to investors.He
reiterated his plea for peace saying, “Bawku is a town that has
great potential, and is ready for development, with so many
young people ready to work and be in gainful employment, such
potential should not be wasted”.
President Mills said this when he met with
opinion leaders of Bawku Mamprusis in Bolgatanga on the second
day of his visit to the Upper East Region. The President had met
Bawku Naba Abugrago Azoka II and leaders of the Kusasis on
Wednesday.
President Mills noted that the situation in
Bawku was not pleasing to anybody as both factions in the
conflict were attesting, especially with the limited freedom of
movement and having to be under curfew for the past one year.
He said even though the Government had a
responsibility to maintain peace in Bawku, finding a lasting
solution to the conflict depended very much on the two ethnic
groups, and called on the elders to consider the future of the
youth in the area and to speed up the peace process.
He said it was time to embark on a fresh
journey to build the country and everybody was needed for that
and there should be no time to waste on unproductive ventures.
President Mills was emphatic on lawlessness,
saying that anyone who broke the law would be dealt with
according to the law.
He stated that the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) was just and sought to do things objectively
without taking sides. “The NDC is on the side of peace;
stability; tranquillity and development. We are in a quest to
build Ghana and we would, therefore, not take sides on any
issue”.
Alhaji Bugri S. Akalifa, an Elder of the
Mamprusis, stated that the Government and many others had shown
interest in finding peace for Bawku and urged all, who undertook
any research on the conflict to present their true findings to
the Government so that it would help to bring a solution.
He said the problem emanated from the
chieftaincy dispute of many years ago and urged President Mills
to study the document on the chieftaincy issue that would have
the true information and also get the two sides in the conflict
to tell the truth about what they knew.
He said that if the people of Bawku had
humbled themselves and listened to the many pleas from
Government to stop the violence, there would have been peace in
Bawku.
He complained that for the past two years,
some Mamprusi farmers, who had been cultivating farmlands
belonging to Kusasis had been denied access to such lands, and
appealed to the President to intervene so that the affected
farmers could crop this year.
GNA
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