Peace At Last; Curfew Lifted In Bawku
The government Thursday lifted the curfew which had been imposed in the Bawku municipality and its immediate environs for some time.
A statement signed by the Minister of the Interior, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, and issued in Accra said the lifting of the curfew hours was in recognition of the return to normalcy in the municipality and its immediate environs.
"It is also intended to allow businesses to commence and at the same time enable the police and the military to maintain the calm that has returned to the areas," it added.
It said it was the belief of the government that the lifting of the curfew would serve as an incentive to help maintain and consolidate peace in and around the Bawku municipality and its immediate environs.
It expressed the government's appreciation to personnel of the security agencies, traditional and religious leaders and other interest groups who worked tirelessly to restore calm in those areas.
The statement further gave assurance of the government's commitment to ensure lasting peace in the areas and appealed to all, especially the youth, to be law abiding and respect the rule of law.
Until December 31, 2007 when there was a shoot-out after the celebration of the annual Samanpiid Festival of the Kussasis, there was relative peace and tranquillity in Bawku, which is noted for its trading activities.
But the December 31 shoot-out reduced the town to a pale shadow of itself and since then it has almost always been in the news for the wrong reason.
Although there were similar conflicts in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 2000, the conflict which erupted on December 31, 2007 lasted for a long time and reduced Bawku and its environs to ghost communities.
Apart from initiatives introduced by the government, including the heavy deployment of state security personnel to Bawku and the provision of a permanent military barracks at Bazua, the establishment of an inter-ethic peace committee by the regional co-ordinating council which had representatives of Kussasis and Mamprusis, together with members of the minority tribes in Bawku, all working together to talk peace, institutions such as the West African Network for Peace Building, BEWDA, Ghana, a development NGO based in Bawku, the Upper East MPs caucus, the Bawku Local Council of Churches, the Muslim community and many others have all worked tirelessly to calm tension among the people of the area.
The peace efforts have paid off and this is evident in the fact that today, unlike the past, Kussasis do not need security escort to cross over to Mamprusi-dominated suburbs, and vice versa.
It is in the light of these positive developments that the Ministry of the Interior, on the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council, has lifted the curfew.
For his part, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, expressed delight at the development, saying he expected the people of the area to maintain the peace, so that Bawku could return to its glorious days.
Commenting on the lifting of the curfew, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mr Adamu Daramani Sakande, said for the past one year, he had consistently campaigned for the lifting of the curfew in Bawku, as he did not see its essence, considering that it was of a five-hour duration, reports Alhandu Abdul-Hamid from Bolgatanga.
He, however, called for the intensification of security patrols, considering the amount of weapons in the system as a result of the conflict and the fact that it was the farming season and many farmlands might be in contention, both issues of which had the tendency to bring about conflict.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Bawku, Mr Musah Abdulai, said the municipality had experienced relative peace for some time now and the lifting of the curfew was a test case to encourage the people to sustain the peace.