Bawku Naba sitting in state at the Samanpiid Festival
The Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area in the Upper East Region, Zug-Raan Bawku Naba Abugragou Asigri Azorka II, has given a hint that the “conflict” in Bawku will soon be declared over, as the Traditional Council is at the last stage of the declaration process.
According to the Overlord of the Bawku Traditional Area, he is confident that the last stage will successfully be concluded and then a ceremony will be done to plant the ‘Okro Stick’ to signify the end of the “conflict”.
Per the tradition of the Bawku Traditional Area, once the ‘Okro Stick’ is planted, it becomes a taboo for anyone to prevent another person from going about their normal farming or business activities in the Bawku Traditional Area. Besides, all farmlands that were taken from some farmers would have to be returned for peace to prevail in the area.
Zug-Raan Bawku Naba commended President Akufo-Addo and successive governments for their roles towards the return of peace, sustainability of the peace and the stability of the Bawku Municipality and other districts under the Bawku Traditional Area.
Naba Abugragou Asigri Azorka II was speaking at the 31st Annual Samanpiid Festival in Bawku. The Samanpiid Festival is a thanksgiving ceremony to thank God and their ancestors for a good harvest and also thank them for the protection and guidance throughout the farming season. Since 1988, the Samanpiid Festival has gone through changes and modifications to its present state, which now includes developmental discussions.
In recent times, even though the Samanpiid Festival is still a post-harvest ceremony, it has become a platform for stocktaking and future development projection.
Over the years, the organizing committee has used the festival to preach and promote moral values including the need for a disciplined traditional area, respect for the elderly, love and unity and the need for the youth to work hard and desist from using shortcuts to make money.
The 31st edition of the festival hammered more on the need to bring back honesty and integrity into all social dealings.
The Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area commended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for the many policy interventions put in place towards the development of the Bawku Traditional Area and the country as a whole.
Bawku Naba however reminded the government of the continuous deterioration of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road and asked the government to look for resources to get the contractors working on the road to get back to site.
Bawku Naba also appealed to government to get the contractor working on the Tamne Irrigation dam in the Garu District to speed up, as farmers around the dam are anxious and want to take up their parcels of land to farm.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Abayage, who represented the government, said the excessive intake of alcohol, abuse of drugs by the youth, religious intolerance, abuse of the rule of law, indiscriminate bushfires and teenage pregnancy are major problems in the Upper East Region and all hands must be on deck to reverse the trend.
She said some money has been allocated in the 2019 budget to pay contractors working on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road and was hopeful that this year, residents along the road would see the contractors in action.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bawku