President John Mahama
The Bawku conundrum continues to tease security managers of the country.
The bottom line though is that it is being driven by politics, especially untenable promises.
The remarks of politicians from the two dominant political parties in the country can make or unmake peace in this restive part of the country.
It is for this reason that politicians, especially during their campaigns for votes, must be measured in what they churn out.
We recall how then candidate John Mahama promised the people of Bawku a new region since after all they outnumber their counterparts in the North East Region. This presupposes that those behind the creation of the new region were unfair to the Kusasis.
The promise of ultra-modern hospital for Garu and Bawku, and a modern stadium for Bawku were poignant messages for the people of this area as an election beckoned.
“Bawku becomes restive when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is at the helm of affairs. This bloody picture is replaced by peace when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) takes over,” were some of the remarks of the President.
Today, the NDC is in power and within seven months of their assumption of power, about three hundred persons have perished—a number which pales out in the face of thirty or so when the NPP was in power for eight years.
He could have avoided the foregone and treaded on matters which cannot exacerbate the situation there.
Today, the story of Bawku has taken a further dip as students are not being spared the madness of, as it were, blood-thirsty combatants.
We cannot tolerate a situation where students would be pulled out on school campuses and shot. The international rules of law abhor this nonsense. We are livid about last week’s unacceptable blood-letting in both Bawku and Nalerigu.
No action would be too much if these can restore normalcy in this troubled part of the country and protect lives and property.
The military have orders to enforce the law, as the President implied is a shift from previous peacekeeping directive.
The Nayiri, Overlord of Mamprugu, has demanded a probe into the murder of the students of the Nalerigu Senior High School, a spillover of the Bawku conflict.
It is an action which must be taken lest criminals engaged in this nonsense think they can do as they please.
Let the country see suspects arrested and made to face the law. The impunity is unacceptable.
It is interesting to note that the President has shifted from his previous position that it is the NPP which is fueling the trouble in Bawku. He said that some individuals are responsible for the mayhem. This is instructive.