‘You can’t separate justice from peace’ – Bombande on root of Bawku crisis

Renowned peacebuilding expert Emmanuel Habuka Bombande has said that the ongoing crisis in Bawku cannot be resolved without confronting the injustice at the heart of the conflict.

In a Facebook post, the co-founder of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) criticised government actions that, in his view, have worsened tensions rather than addressed them.

“Let us not allow the impression to be created that the people of Bawku have not talked peace. They did. Please check the 2001 dialogue outcomes and communique of all groups,” he said.

He continued, “What no one is talking about is the Government’s use of political power from 2021 to 2024 to enforce chieftaincy in Bawku, beginning with an illegal enskinment in February 2023. Those events extended the conflict beyond Bawku to Nalerigu. For the first time, the conflict assumed the expanded scope of Nayiri versus Kusuag, because political power made it so.”

According to Bombande, “Chieftaincy as a source of contestation had been dealt with in its finality, that is why Naba Azoka Abugrago II had been paramount chief for over 40 years.”

He attributed the current escalation to decisions that have undermined previous resolutions and stirred up deep grievances. “We are where we are because of an injustice that lacks the will to address the injustice in the first place.”

He also drew a clear distinction between mediation efforts and the government’s constitutional role in maintaining order. “Containing violence must be understood to be separate from talking in Manhyia Palace. Coordination of security to protect the people is the sole responsibility of Government and separate entirely from the Mediation roles of Otumfour, His Majesty the Asantehene.”

“When there is no justice, there can never be any peace. This is stirring a high level of emotions and trauma that Ghanaians at all levels who are not from Kusuag can never understand. Violence must be understood at its structural level before it can be comprehensively dealt with.”

He further warned, “When you perpetuate an injustice by trying to flout the law, the Chief who is gazetted, the Supreme Court and enskin an illegal chief and now try to benefit from that illegality through arbitration, you create a powder keg of explosions that will continue.”

“If you ask me, we have not seen anything yet, sadly, tragically but most regrettably.”

The Bawku conflict, rooted in a long-standing chieftaincy dispute, has seen periodic eruptions of violence, often leading to loss of life and destruction of property. Recent incidents have seen the violence spread to neighbouring areas, including Nalerigu, raising alarm over a broader regional crisis.