Bawku also deserves a new region - Bawku Naba to Akufo-Addo

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.

The call comes after a referendum was held on December 27th, 2018 where people in six proposed new regions namely Oti, Ahafo, Brong East, Western North, North East and Savanna voted “YES” to welcome the creation of the new regions.

Addressing the 31st Annual Samanpiid Festival of the Chiefs and people of Kusaug at Bawku on Sunday, December 30, 2018, the Bawku Naba commended government for implementing the processes towards the creation of new regions as it will ultimately help to bring development to the doorstep of those in the newly created regions.

He entreated the government to also elevate Bawku West and Garu districts to Municipalities.

The Bawku Naba also urged the Electoral Commission to split the Zebilla constituency into Zebilla and Binaba-Kusanab constituencies as well as the Bawku Central Constituency into Bawku North and Bawku South constituencies.

Peace

The Bawku Naba indicated that the area was in its final stages of officially declaring the protracted ethnic conflict as over through a proposed ceremony to “bury the okro stick.”

He noted that when that was 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 farm lands.”

He however observed that the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee (BIEPC) which is spearheading the process seemed to be having financial challenges to help meet the required resources needed to carry out those peace processes.

“Our people recently emerged from several years of conflict which stagnated our development process; Now that we have peace we should naturally be focusing on our speedy development as if nothing had happened.” the Bawku Naba stressed.

Samanpiid

This year's Samanpiid was on the theme “Harnessing the potentials of the people of Kusaug for the development of the area".

The festival was instituted as a post-harvest event to thank God and ancestral spirits for protecting and guiding the people through the farming season. Since 1988 the festival has undergone some modification to ensure that the residents of Bawku were mobilized for development.