The renewed conflict in the capital town of Upper East is worrisome and calls for urgent action to stem the tide before it consumes the entire region.
The insecurity has risen to a level that some residents are fleeing the town to avoid being killed. It has been reported that, businesses, including banks, Social Security and National Insurance Trust etc, have close their offices and residents now have to go to Bolgatanga, the capital town of Upper West in order to assess those services.
According toAlbert Sori, Joy NewsUpper East Regional Correspondent,some hospitals are also threatening to close down, if the situation in Bawku, does not improve. Conflict has caused a lot of damage to the economy of the region.
A state of affairs, where residents cannot go about their lawful businesses for fear of being killed or maimed by gunmen, who have laid siege in the town, calls to question the competence of government from the local to the national level to arrest the situation.
This conflict, has been going on for some time now, between the Kusasis and Mamprusis, with both tribes accusing each other of fanning it.
It has escalated this time around, because the military in Bawku are being accused of killing some residents.
In the opinion of this newspaper, It is time leaders from the region, rose to the occasion to deal with this monster before it becomes too late. The continued silence of critical stakeholders in the face of this protracted conflict is no longer golden.
As a newspaper, we see the silence by eminent people from the region and other leaders amid the incessant fighting and killings in the region as negligence of duty.
We demand that the military, who are being accused of shooting to death of ten people live up to their constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property.
The urgent intervention by the governments is also required to restore sanity in the region. The government should also consider dialogue as panacea to end the killings and destruction of lives and property in Bawku, it has been done before in the Dagbon crsis, and it can be done again, only if the government is committed to ensuring that, they is lasting peace in the town.
