Seasoned security consultant, Professor Kwesi Aning has expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s efforts in addressing the conflict in Bawku, describing the overall strategy as a failure.
He said the decades-old conflict required structural changes in order to make progress and bring the warring sides together.
The political analyst, who was speaking on GHOne TV, EIB Network’s curtain-raiser, Election Countdown ahead of the general election, observed that the curfews had been the go-to measure of managing the conflict although it was clear that it had not been successful.
He asserted that the nation had failed the people of Bawku.
“Bawku epitomizes some of the failures we’ve had in our security governance. We tend to use curfew as a solution to the structural and other root causes of the conflict. When there is a semblance of peace, we tend to forget that there are root causes that drive people to behave in a particular way.
“Immediately it rears its head, we don’t say ‘Well how come we haven’t solved this problem’. We say ‘Well, let’s use the curfew’ so the legislative processes are begun, passed and a curfew is imposed. So we have failed the citizens of that town,” Professor Anin said on GH One.
He described a grim picture of the town where people had fled the violence, the military had put the area on lockdown and businesses had collapsed.
Professor Aning questioned what had been done differently to address the mistrust and deep-rooted acrimony endemic among the people.
He warned that the election officials dispatched to Bawku on Election Day could be in danger in an area where “potential misunderstanding” could easily unravel.
The conflict in Bawku is one of the most protracted misunderstandings in the nation’s history with several episodes of curfews imposed by governments. While they have attempted to resolve the issues, they have not succeeded.
The most recent curfew was imposed on October 28, 2024 following deadly clashes after the return of rival chief, Alhaji Seidu Abagre whose presence intensified the conflict.
