The resolve of the Chiefs and people of Nkonya and Alavanyo to permanently put to rest an over-80-year-old, often bloody land dispute, would be put to a crucial test on Monday June 9 at the Bishop Koninigs Social Centre in Ho.
The Nkonya-Alavanyo Conflict Mediation Committee would that day, present to them, (Nkonya and Alavanyo) the maps of the boundaries of the disputed land as they each indicated on the ground as part of the processes at settling the dispute.
The presentation of the maps would move their negotiations to an important level in resolving the dispute peacefully.
The two communities have been at peace with each other for the past four years as a result of delicate peace negotiations with each other supervised by the Nkonya-Alavanyo Conflict Mediation Committee, a Church cum government initiative, inaugurated on January 16, 2004 and commenced work in February 2005.
The Committee has succeeded in helping the two traditional areas to establish an atmosphere of mutual trust between them resulting in the resumption of healthy social interaction, previously undreamt of.
The Committee is chaired by Right Reverend Dr. Livingstone Komla Buama, Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana and includes Right Reverend Francis Anani Lodonu, Catholic Bishop of Ho Diocese.
A brief made available to the Ghana News Agency by Mr Evans K. T. Kanfra. Secretary to the Committee on request indicated that previous attempts to resolve the issue including court rulings had failed.
With the presentation of the maps to them, "the communities (Nkonya and Alavanyo) would now enter into dialogue and negotiation to resolve the issue", Mr Kanfra stated in the brief. Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency