President John Dramani Mahama has blamed the latest outbreak of violence in Bawku on what he described as deliberate efforts to sabotage high-level mediation aimed at ending the region’s long-standing ethnic conflict.
Speaking in Accra on Tuesday during a courtesy visit from the Overlord of Gonjaland, Yagbonwura BII-Kunutu Jewu Soale I, President Mahama warned that continued unrest threatens to reverse recent gains in peacebuilding efforts. He expressed particular concern over the impact on public services, including education.
“We cannot accept the current situation in Bawku where students are shot in school and killed,” Mahama said. “We cannot accept the situation where teachers and workers have run away for their lives.”
The President reaffirmed his administration’s support for the peace initiative led by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who was tasked with mediating the conflict earlier this year. Mahama noted that Otumfuo has been providing regular progress updates and expressed optimism that a resolution is within reach.
“We have given the mediation to Otumfuo, and he has constantly briefed me on the mediation efforts — and we are almost there,” Mahama said.
But the recent violence, Mahama suggested, is the work of individuals intent on derailing the talks. “The current fighting and killing can only be done by people who want to derail the mediation efforts,” he said.
The Bawku conflict, rooted in decades of chieftaincy and ethnic tensions, has long been a flashpoint in Ghana’s Upper East Region. Previous ceasefires and peace accords have yielded mixed results, with periodic flare-ups undermining stability and economic development in the area.
