DAYOP Does Us Proud

Last week a group of young Dagombas displayed wisdom greater than their elders. In a press conference in Accra, they called for an unqualified and unconditional peace in Dagbon. In so doing, they demonstrated vision, courage, and a deep sense of moral responsibility to their community and country. Vision because thus far little or none has emanated from their elders; courage because during times of crisis it is usually more politically expedient or correct to play the 'blame game'; and responsible because they recognize that all of Dagbon—and Ghana—will lose in further escalation of tension and conflict. And Dagbon and the nation should be grateful for the courageous example set by this group of young men and women. As a Ghanaian and a Dagomba myself, I am at once humbled by their display of maturity and valor in taking a firm, neutral stand – indeed, in my estimation the only sensible one – in a battle of attrition being waged by hardliners that threatens to consume the Dagbon Kingdom. There are many lessons that we can draw both as a people and nation from the crisis in Dagbon. This article will limit itself to just three: First, in the absence of rule of law, respect for the most fundamental of human rights, and human decency, we can be sure that the law of the jungle with its characteristic 'winner-takes-all' traits will pervade the social and political space. Even as we attempt to deepen our social and political commitments in alignment with universal principles of human rights and democratic pluralism and all of their accoutrements, we must remain vigilante against, and indeed move to arrest, the culture of impunity and lawlessness that has pervaded the political and social space in Ghana and other African countries since independence.

Second, permanent and ongoing peace building can serve as an invaluable policy in the nation building and development process across all social sectors. Those sufficiently familiar with our history would agree that conflict in Ghana, and in the continent as a whole, has been as much a manifestation of our colonial inheritance that fused together ethnically and religiously diverse and discordant groups as it has been the primary preoccupation of aggrieved or ambitious political and opinion leaders, or the 'hidden hands' of powerful foreign actors, or even geographically biased and unequal development policies.

While Ghana has been fortunate in avoiding mass civil conflict thanks in part to the deliberate efforts of our Founding Fathers who urged us to recognize and embrace the value and strength of ethnic and religious diversity, this message—as in many other African countries—has invariably not percolated down deep enough to the sub-national, communal levels. Thus, resultant tensions over land and mineral rights, power sharing, and rites of succession in chieftainship issues continue to aggravate our body politic, bloat our tax burden, and weigh down the development process.

What we need is a proactive, crisis-averting, peace building policy that is deeply reflected in our educational system (both formal and non-formal), in our body politic, and in our social, cultural, and religious spaces at all levels of society. Children should be taught at home, school, places of worship, and playgrounds the importance of tolerance, mutual respect, fair play, as well as the need to and the ways of dealing with disagreements through non-violent means.

Finally, weapons purchases and the crises and conflicts that they wage represent lost developmental dollars, as we have ourselves experienced with the fiasco in Dagbon and next door in Cote D'Ivoire. Aside from the social cost, the economic toll brought on by the purchase and use of these weapons in conflict situations is unconscionable. Although the most developmentally-challenged, Africa remains the top importing region of weaponry in support of conflicts in the world. And little wonder; Africa has the highest number of raging conflicts of any other region. Insecurity and lack of stability elicited by crises and conflict is on the increase in our sub-region and continent, and will for the foreseeable future provide the greatest obstacle to sustainable development.

It is gratifying to know that DAYOP understands the fuller implications of protracted civil unrest in Dagbon and has therefore decided to act for the greater good of the region and for our country. Hopefully, the opinion leaders in Dagbon on both sides of the divide will step up to the plate and collaborate on finding a permanent peace with the principles of tolerance, fair play, and mutual respect guiding and framing their dialogue. DAYOP is to be saluted for triggering what is hoped will be a positive and progressive chain reaction leading to a lasting solution to this longstanding dispute. Only when this has happened can the rest of the country and the world help to re-establish normalcy, development, and the social cohesion that Dagbon so desperately needs. Charles S. Hamidu Washington, D.C.