The leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Bawku Central Constituency has pen downed their utter disappointment over how the government is handling the Bawku chieftaincy impasse.
In the Views of the constituency executives, polling station executives, and electoral area coordinators, the conflict is making the party unattractive in Bawku and the Upper East Region in general.
Led by the Constituency Chairman, the executives stressed and call for peace and tranquility but in a twist pushed the blame on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other government officials for the escalation of tension in the area.
At a press conference at the party’s office in Bawku, the Communication Officer, Nurudeen Gumah, said members of the party are of different tribes within the traditional area and, so, the party does not entertain divisive tribalism.
But, he says, the chieftaincy dispute has affected members of the party, thus making the party unattractive.
The executives, therefore, urged the feuding groups to put the guns down and resort to pragmatic measures to address the conflict.
They noted that since the conflict resurfaced in November, non-Mamprusis have been the hardest-hit casualties simply because they are perceived to belong to the NPP yet the leadership of the party, both at the regional and national level, did not respond on that issue.
“Members of our party who are Non-Mamprusis were killed simply because they were affiliated to the party, notably Mma Laale, Obesery, and many others who are polling station executives and party sympathizers. The party leadership at the regional and national did not respond on that too.”
They pointed out that some people are taking advantage of the conflict to ruin the presidential ambitions of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, by dragging his name into the Bawku conflict.
“We would like to condemn all those trying to ruin the presidential ambition of His Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, by dragging his good name into the Bawku chieftaincy matter.
“Chieftaincy issues are purely traditional and not political, so we entreat all and sundry to leave that to the traditional authorities,” they added.
According to the party, President Akufo-Addo got more votes from Bawku Central Constituency mainly from the Mamprusi-dominated areas to become president and they expected him to have controlled the situation well, which would have circumvented more deaths.
“It’s a known fact that the majority of the votes the party gets in Bawku is coming from the Mamprusis and their sympathizers in the Bawku township and beyond. In the 2020 general elections, we gave Nana Akufo-Addo more than 20,000 votes to win the election, and out of this number, the Mamprusis gave the party more than 18,000 votes.
“We want to request the national executives to tell His Excellency that his posture towards the chieftaincy dispute is hurting the party at the constituency, considering the fact that the majority of the people in Bawku who voted to make him president are Mamprusis and a party to the chieftaincy dispute.
“We want to find out whether it’s because he will be leaving office very soon, that he doesn’t care about the fortunes of the party any longer. We appeal to him to treat the chieftaincy dispute as a pure traditional matter and refer the matter to eminent traditional authorities to handle it rather than making pronouncements on it.”
By Lawrence Odoom