The analyst says the Bawku conflict is no longer a chieftaincy but a terrorist activity
Security analyst, Andrews Asiedu Tetteh, says the Bawku conflict is no longer a chieftaincy or land dispute, but a terrorist activity.
He says, per what is happening, “We are sitting on a time bomb, and if we fail to deal with it, we will regret it later.”
According to him, one of his disappointments with former President Akufo-Addo was his disagreement that the Bawku conflict was not a terrorist act.
“What is happening in Bawku is terrorist activity to the point where people are being pulled off buses, asked which tribe they belong to, and then shot if they do not belong to the tribe of those wielding the guns. So, if this occurs and you fail to treat it as terrorist activity, it is unfortunate.
“The fact that it is not fully blown does not imply that it is not a terrorist activity. So one of my concerns is that no president has taken security seriously. The dynamics of chieftaincy and land disputes are consistent across all areas where they occur. However, some have survived for more than thirty years. If our security services have sat back and allowed these conflicts to continue for thirty years, it is simply incompetence,” he said.
He noted that Ghana’s security agencies are even unable to determine where the illicit arms used in these conflicts come from.
In order to bring a lasting solution to the Bawku conflict, Andrews Tetteh has called for a change in the approach.
He said that some are using the conflict to make money, citing the example that some individuals are exchanging cows with guns.
He also alleged that the central government has no commitment to ending the conflict because the budget allocated to deal with the conflict is always inflated.
The opposition, he added, also makes reckless comments about the conflict to make the government unpopular.
“The root of the conflict is still chieftaincy, land, and superiority, but the phase we are handling now is a terrorist activity. The thing has left the stage of land dispute and is now a terrorist activity,” he added.
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