Bawku is in the news for the umpteenth time and for an unenviable reason – ethnic clash occasioned by politicisation.
With the residences of the Divisional Police Commander ACP/Mr. Adamu Seidu and the Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga torched, not forgetting a police barracks, including a fatality and injuries to many, there is more trouble ahead.
A solution to the crisis in this part of the country is not in sight anytime soon in as much as politics continues to be a catalyst.
When a subject becomes politicised the way the Bawku issue has become, a solution to it becomes near impossible to achieve.
Another law of karma is catching up with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Bawku, as the Bawku Central Member of Parliament (MP), Mahama Ayariga’s pre-2024 election audio has been repositioned on social media to expose his lies and by extension his party.
In the said audio, he said that the Bawku conflict could not be tackled because the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had made some promises to one of the factions.
Last week, a Kusasi group in a press conference accused President John Mahama of not making good his promise of addressing the conflict as soon as he assumed the leadership of the country.
He has become President and those who stand to benefit from the fulfilment of the said promise have accused him of failing to walk his talk.
According to the disappointed Kusasi group, the Bawku conflict was being exploited by politicians to achieve their goals.
There is no doubt that the promises President Mahama made to the people of Bawku were restricted to one of the factions in the never-ending conflict.
In the heat of the campaigns towards the December 7 elections last year, then flagbearer John Mahama spewed some promises which are now haunting him.
He told the Kusasis that the demand for a region by the chief of the town was acceptable in principle since according to him, it was better placed economically than the North East. This is a divisive remark which can only be made by someone seeking to gain electorally in a restive locality.
He also promised to have probed soldiers alleged to have killed some persons in Bawku. He had effectively incited the residents, especially the Kusasis, against the military personnel who are only there to stop the hostilities.
If today the Kusasis demand that he makes good his promises, they are on point.
President Mahama, it would be recalled, was quoted as saying during a campaign engagement that during such political activities, politicians blend lies with truth. This, according to him, is a standard practice in politics.
Over a dozen persons have lost their lives in Bawku since NDC assumed the leadership of this country and counting.
Politicians should be measured in their promises and utterances because some of them are simply unfeasible and can be sources of national security challenges as being witnessed in Bawku today.
We can only ask the people of Bawku to accept dialogue as a means of solving the restiveness, because after all the NDC’s hypocrisy in the matter has been exposed by the Bawku group in their press conference.
It would be in the interest of the people of Bawku to ignore the dirty NDC tactics and embrace peaceful co-existence.
