A few days ago, expectedly, a group of persons sought to throw spanners into the ongoing roadmap towards Dagbon peace with a needless press conference.
They announced that the ‘Andani side’ had withdrawn from the roadmap being implemented and unsurprisingly it met with massive disapproval from not only most conflict-weary people from the ethnic group but Ghanaians in general.
In previous editorials, we did mention that such negative developments are bound to happen in as much as the positive inroads being recorded towards restoring normalcy are noticeable.
We congratulate those who partook in the fashioning of the roadmap and ask that they remain steadfast in their resolve to bring a closure to the lingering Dagbon restive situation.
When a group of people take the nasty initiative to announce a withdrawal from a roadmap agreed upon by all, they do not mean well for their community and country at large and should be ostracized.
We have reached an important notch in the implementation of the roadmap that such disruptions should not be allowed. After all, the whole exercise is being backed by an Executive Order.
Nobody should hold us to ransom as we seek even development of the whole country. We have met prospective investors whose proposals have failed to convince banks because of the conflict picture painted about this part of the country; a piece of avoidable obstacle erected by a band of selfish individuals.
We have all resolved that the negative status quo should be changed by all means. In as much as those who matter in the performance of the various funerals are in agreement as per the existing customs and practices and in consonance with the tenets of the roadmap, such unnecessary and distractive press conferences should be ignored with contempt.
The journey to today has been long, tortuous and bumpy; terminating it at this point is not an option to be countenanced, never.
The words of a key figure in the cultural setting, the Vo Naa that the funeral of the late Ya Naa Yakubu is not for his son to decide sounds credible and encouraging. This should give us the impetus and leverage to push on with the roadmap.
So far there has not been any security threat and there cannot be any because most people are fed up with the state of belligerence that is the picture of Dagbon.
Elsewhere in this edition, there is a story from our Tamale correspondent about the Andanis stating that the funeral of the late Ya Na Yakubu would go on as scheduled. This suggests that there are a few persons whose interest the unsavoury situation serves.
So much public funds have gone into the maintenance of law and order in this part of the country that a closure must be brought to bear upon it. There cannot be an indefinite state of war in any part of the world. At a certain time, there must be a closure. Even world wars end. Now is the time to stop the belligerence.
Even as we compose this commentary, the disappointed persons who have profited from all negative happenings would try another trick from their bag but our resolve, the President’s and above all, the good people of Dagbon, is bigger than theirs. Peace and the development of Dagbon, a piece of Ghana, is more important than the selfish interest of a few individuals. For sure, the well from which they have incessantly drawn water is drying up. Peace is returning to a restive domain.