The Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Zug-Raan, Asigri Abugrago Azorka II, has called on the government to consider carving a new region out of the Upper East Region for the Bawku area. This move the Bawku Naba believes would help accelerate the development of the area.
Addressing the 33RD Annual Samanpiid Festival of the Chiefs and people of Kusaug at Bawku, the Bawku Naba commended the government for creating new regions as it will ultimately help to bring development to the doorstep of those in the newly created regions The Bawku Traditional Area has six administrative districts. This, includes, Pusiga, Bawku West, Tempane, Garu and Binduri Districts, and Bawku Municipal. The Paramount Chief of the Kusaug Traditional Area, Zugraan Naba Abugrago Asigri Azoka, appealed to the government through the Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to make the Bawku Traditional Area a region on its own and also create a new district out of the Bawku West District.
The move according to the Paramount Chief, will go a long way to bring the needed development to the area. The Paramount Chief of the Traditional Area who made the appeal through his spokesperson, Mr. Patrick Adakrugu, charged qualified applicants from the area to enroll and study the kusaal language at the University of Education, Winneba. He called on the people in the area to desist from farming closer to the banks of the White Volta to avoid the high level of destruction caused by the torrential rains in October this year coupled with the spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso.
It was revealed that the measures put in place to end the long-standing chieftaincy dispute in Bawku is in its final stages of officially declaring the protracted ethnic conflict as over through a proposed ceremony to “bury the okro stick.” When that is done, it would be a “taboo for anyone to prevent or obstruct anybody from going about their normal business in the Bawku Traditional area including returning to abandoned farmlands.” The chiefs and the people of the Bawku Traditional Area climaxed their 33rd annual Samanpiid Festival with a durbar with a call on residents in the area to help sustain the prevailing peace in the area.
The Samanpiid is an annual festival celebrated by the Kusasis in the Kusaug Traditional Area to show appreciation to God for a bumper harvest. It was first celebrated in 1987 and this year’s festival was on the theme: “Mutual Understanding and co-existence: A key to enhancing peace for the development of Kusaug”. Past and present Members of Parliament, Lecturers, chiefs queen mothers were among the distinguished guests who graced the occasion. The Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Zugraan Naba Abugrago Asigri Azoka, expressed appreciation to the people for the prevailing peace in the area and urged them to work hard to sustain it for accelerated development. He commended the government, the various security agencies, Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, and other stakeholders for jealously safeguarding the peace they are currently enjoying. He described the chieftaincy institution as noble, hence the need for his divisional chiefs not to engage themselves in active politics. He appealed to the people in the area to stop practicing outmoded cultural practices such as early marriages, widowhood rites, female genital mutilation among others.
Zugraan Naba Abugrago Asigri Azoka commended the government for implementing pro-poor policies aimed at reducing poverty among the people in the area. This, according to him, included Free SHS, Planting for Food and Jobs, One-Village-one-dam, NABCO, One-District-One-Warehouse among others. He appealed to the government to complete the ongoing developmental projects in the area. The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Frank Fuseini Adongo, said the theme for the celebration is apt because it challenges them to dialogue, co-exist, and unite which are the moral fabrics of their culture as the building block to the development of the area.
The Deputy Regional Minister said Bawku is back to normal status as the people are going about their educational, economic, and social activities in peace and harmony. He, therefore, entreated the people to be patient, since the government was making efforts at addressing their development challenges. He observed that the main challenge facing the north was poverty, underpinned by the lack of infrastructure and human resource, and explained that it was for that reason that the government had rolled out various interventions, including the free senior high school policy in 2017, to bridge the development gap between the north and the south.
Other speakers charged sons and daughters in the area to support Bawku Naba Educational Endowment fund to help meet the deserving needs of their brilliant but needy students in the area. Residents were also charged to continue to adhere to the novel coronavirus safety protocols. The 33rd Samanpiid Festival, which showcased the rich cultural heritage of the chiefs and people of the traditional area, was characterized by traditional dancing, music, colorful costume, and speeches.
Audio attached below:
Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Contributor: Prosper Adankai
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