The Manhyia Palace has announced that the mediation process by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in the lingering Bawku chieftaincy dispute will resume on April 28.
A statement issued by the Palace on April 15 read in part, “His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, will resume mediation of the Bawku crisis as agreed with both parties from April 28 to May 1, 2025, at the Manhyia Palace, Kumasi.”
It further urged all parties to exercise restraint and cooperate for a lasting resolution of the conflict.
There has been a wave of unrest in parts of the Upper East Region relating to the conflict between the Mamprusis and the Kusasis.
In the recent wave of violence, some youth set ablaze a police station as well as the official and private residence of police officers in the town.
There was also an attempt to set ablaze the house of the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga.
Additionally, two police officers were also attacked and killed at Binduri while travelling from Bongo on April 13.
The Interior Minister has since revised the curfew on Binduri and Bawku to 12 hours, from 6pm to 6 am.
The conflict is fuelled by the factions’ imposition of their legitimacy over Bawku town.
According to Rev. Professor John Zumah, the Executive Director of the Sanneh Institute and Visiting Professor at Yale University, the issue is not so much about who the legitimate Bawku Naba is currently, but about whose traditional homeland Bawku is.
The conflict has claimed many lives and caused millions of cedis in damages.
The Africa Report states that 20 people died between December 2022 and February 2023 as a result of the conflict.
A committee was set up to investigate the issues, and the Supreme Court of Ghana has ruled on the case, but all these attempts have proven futile in settling the dispute.
Following the Asantehene’s resolution of the 16-year-old Dagbon chieftaincy dispute, stakeholders have called on the government to reach out to the King for a resolution of the Bawku dispute.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
