Bawku Unrest: Mamprusi Youth disgusted by U/E Reg. Minister’s narrative
The Mamprusi Youth Association has expressed disgust at the posturing of the Upper East Regional Minister in the wake of unrest at Bawku.
In recent times, sporadic gunshots in Bawku Central has led to the placement of a curfew on the Municipality and its environs and a ban on the wearing of smock which security capos say is used by criminals to hide weapons.
Reacting to the recent developments and subsequent interviews by the Upper East Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu, the Mamprusi Youth Association have expressed worry over some claims made by him about the cause of the unrest in Bawku.
“We have noticed with serious concern how the Upper East Regional Minister who is also the Chairman of the Regional Security Council in a split second turned himself into a propaganda secretary for the Kusasis whilst granting an interview on Citi FM’s Eye Witness News program on November 24, 2021,” a statement from the Association said.
Adding that “The minister who is a Kusasi by tribe but was supposed to be impartial in his role made very grave statements that are factually inaccurate and have the tendency to worsen the security situation in Bawku. He attributed the cause of the recent insecurity in Bawku to the performance of a funeral by the Overlord of Mamprugu the Nayiri for his son the 14th Bawku Naaba Naa Adam Zangbeo Tampuri. We find this his attempt to be disingenuous aimed at misleading the Ghanaian public from knowing the real threats to the peace and security of Bawku”.
Apart from the Minister’s bias, the Association also fingers one Mohammed Nurudeen, Prof Abango and Haruna Sumaila Abugri as the people fueling the recent tensions in the Bawku Municipality and its environs.
“Furthermore, we wish to state categorically that Bawku was enjoying relative peace until a provocative interview granted to one Prof Agbango by one Mohammed Nurudeen who is a reporter for Joy News in the Ashanti Region. This Mohammed Nurudeen is a Kusasi by tribe and in fact a self-proclaimed youth leader for the Kusasis. It is a shame that he threw his professional ethics away and threaded on a path to incite his Kusasis to violence through his interview with Prof Agbango. Related to this issue is another attempt by a Kusasi by the name Haruna Sumaila Abugri who works for the Herald Newspaper. He, as is characteristic of war mongering also threw his professional ethics away by writing a very biased and disingenuous story published on the Herald Newspaper on 24th November, 2021. He tried to disingenuously fight the cause of his Kusasi compatriots by slander and false reportage which should be an issue of serious concern to his employers,” the statement said.
Read Their Full Statement Here
A PRESS CONFERENCE BY BAWKU MAMPRUSI YOUTH ASSOCIATION ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN BAWKU AND SUBTLE ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THE NAME OF BAWKU IN THE CHIEFTAINCY INSTRUMENT, 2020 (L.I. 2409) AND OTHER MATTERS
The Regent of Bawku, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam Zangbeo, and his elders, ladies and gentlemen of the Press, invited guests, sons and daughters of Bawku, descendants of Naa Gbewaa, fellow Ghanaians. We thank you very much for honoring our invitation to this event. On behalf of the entire Mamprusi Youth in Bawku, we welcome you to this historic citadel of peace, Naa Zangbeo Palace.
This press conference is held by the Bawku Mamprusi Association to address certain important issues that are core to the historical heritage of Bawku as well as to the peace and security of the town. We as true descendants of the founders of Bawku are always mindful of the toil and sacrifices our ancestors have gone through to establish this town and thus, we are always at the forefront in promoting peace and development. It is in this regard that we have chosen to address these concerns through this legal and non-violent means. Not only that, we have chosen a public forum to ensure utmost transparency in our quest to get these issues resolved.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have noticed with serious concern how the Upper East Regional Minister who is also the Chairman of the Regional Security Council in a split second turned himself into a propaganda secretary for the Kusasis whilst granting an interview on Citi FM’s Eye Witness News program on November 24, 2021. The minister who is a Kusasi by tribe but was supposed to be impartial in his role made very grave statements that are factually inaccurate and have the tendency to worsen the security situation in Bawku. He attributed the cause of the recent insecurity in Bawku to the performance of a funeral by the Overlord of Mamprugu the Nayiri for his son the 14th Bawku Naaba Naa Adam Zangbeo Tampuri. We find this his attempt to be disingenuous aimed at misleading the Ghanaian public from knowing the real threats to the peace and security of Bawku.
Without delving much into this diversionary tactic spearheaded by the Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu, we will like to state for the avoidance of any doubt that, funeral performance for a deceased person is a right that the deceased has upon his/her family and loved ones. And contrary to the Minister’s misleading comments made in his capacity as the propaganda secretary for his tribesmen instead of his role as Regional Minister, there is currently absolutely NO law in Ghana that bans people from performing the funeral of loved ones specifically the funeral of Naa Adam Zangbeo who died as the legal and gazetted Chief of the Bawku Traditional Council. The propagandist attempt by Stephen Yakubu to state that the funeral was performed over 41 years ago in the Islamic way truly exposes his biased stance as far the Bawku crisis is concerned. One critical evidence that shows that the Regional Minister was biased or not properly briefed is his false assertion that there was a PNDC law in 1975 stopping the performance of the funeral of Naa Adam Zangbeo. The simple question to him on this falsehood is that, how can there be a law banning the performance of a funeral for someone who was ALIVE since Naa Adam Zangbeo was alive then? Furthermore, was the PNDC in Government in 1975 to have the mandate of promulgating a law banning the performance of a funeral? The Regional Minister who is a Kusasi should clearly get it that it does not lie in his authority to educate Mamprusis on how funerals are done in the Mamprusi tradition. He and his cohorts should know that the Nayiri has the right to celebrate the life of his son Naa Adam Zangbeo by performing a befitting funeral for him no matter how long the event has delayed and there is absolutely NO soul that can take this right from the Nayiri and family of Naa Tampuri Adam Zangbeo. Furthermore, we will like to state that, it does NOT lie in the hands of the Regional Minister to tell us who is the rightful owner of the Bawku skin. The Bawku skin has a clear lineage owned by Mamprusis which has been in existence for over 200 years long before Abugrago Azoka and his family came to Bawku from Duutinga through Pusiga in the 1940s. This is an established historical fact that no one can deny and it will be made very clear in the subsequent sections of this Press Conference. Therefore, so long as the funeral of Naa Adam Zangbeo who died as the legally gazetted Chief of Bawku still remains unperformed, the solution just as espoused by Umaru Sanda of Citi FM in a question to the Regional Minister is to resolve this impasse which is the root cause of the Bawku crisis. We therefore call on Government to come to terms with this fact by facilitating the performance of the funeral of Naa Adam Zangbeo who served his people and country faithfully as the 14th Bawku Naaba and once the Vice President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs.
Ladies and gentlemen, with this background, we will proceed to narrate to you with real evidence the recent activities that are the immediate and real threats to peace in Bawku that have resulted in the increased tension in Bawku. On or about 25th October, 2021 following the unprovoked attempted distortion of the history of Bawku by one Prof. Agbango, our attention was drawn to a provocative press release by a so-called Concerned Association of Kusasi Youth. In their statement, they claimed the name of the Bawku Traditional Council had been changed to Kusaug under a Legislative Instrument (L.I). This was the first time in over a decade that the Kusasis had made reference to a legal instrument in support of their claims ever since they plotted a grand scheme to change the name of Bawku. Upon further research, we discovered that certain people for whatever reason had in a clandestine move subtly inserted the word ‘kusaug’ in the Chieftaincy Instrument, 2020 (L.I 2409) in an attempt to change the name of Bawku.
We further found a purported letter emanating from an alien ‘Kusaug’ traditional council claiming to order various Government agencies to refer to the Bawku Traditional Council in official correspondence as the alien “Kasaug” Traditional Council and one Aninchema Abugrago Azoka as Zugraana. In this regard, we wish to make the following observations and to call on the attention of peace-loving Ghanaians to these unprovoked attacks on the beautiful heritage, peace and security of Bawku and its surrounding areas.
But before we delve further into how this clandestine insertion of ‘Kusaug’ is very unfortunate and a threat to the cultural heritage and peace of Bawku, the question that readily comes to mind is why this attempt by some Self-proclaimed Kusasis to erase the name Bawku which has been in existence since the inception of the town? The answer is simple and obvious! They have realized that so long as the name of the town and traditional council remains Bawku, it is a fatal blow to their discredited and fake claim of being the real owners of the town.
INCITING ROLE OF PROF AGBANGO, MOHAMMED NURUDEEN OF JOY NEWS AND HARUNA SUMAILA ABUGRI TO THE RECENT INCREASED TENSION IN BAWKU
Furthermore, we wish to state categorically that Bawku was enjoying relative peace until a provocative interview granted to one Prof Agbango by one Mohammed Nurudeen who is a reporter for Joy News in the Ashanti Region. This Mohammed Nurudeen is a Kusasi by tribe and in fact a self-proclaimed youth leader for the Kusasis. It is a shame that he threw his professional ethics away and threaded on a path to incite his Kusasis to violence through his interview with Prof Agbango. Related to this issue is another attempt by a Kusasi by the name Haruna Sumaila Abugri who works for the Herald Newspaper. He, as is characteristic of war mongering also threw his professional ethics away by writing a very biased and disingenuous story published on the Herald Newspaper on 24th November, 2021. He tried to disingenuously fight the cause of his Kusasi compatriots by slander and false reportage which should be an issue of serious concern to his employers.
Prof Agbango’s full name is George Akeya Agbango. He is the son of a Biengu migrant called Agbango Daanab who was living in Zebilla. He was called “Daanab” meant “market chief” in reference to his job as ticket collector in the Zebilla market. Daanab was not a member of the Apotuba/Abiongo Talensi founders and ruling clan of Zebilla but rather a migrant pure Kusasi from Biengu in present Burkina Faso. He therefore has no claim to land or skin in Bawku and and therefore must keep his mouth shut on Bawku land and skin matters. Truly, if he tried that on Zebilla affairs he would have been told to go back to Biengu and solve the land and skin issues there. Akeya Agbango should rather be telling the whole world how he violently and criminally shut the dreams of poor Martin Kisise from Mirigu when he and the deceased were both students at the Bawku Secondary School. He knows very well he is the last person to talk about migrants in Bawku because after his violent termination of the dreams of Martin, he Akeya Agbango had to be sent back home to his hometown of Biengu in Burkina Faso for the purification rites. It was after these rights that he was able to return back to Zebilla. So how can such a person call Mamprusi founders of Bawku migrants when he himself migrated from Burkina Faso? It is this his action and that of his boys in the media that are very provocative and real threats to the peace of Bawku.
We wish to state that it is these unprofessional conducts by Mohammed Nurudeen and Haruna Sumaila Abugri that are the real threat to the peace of Bawku and not the performance of a funeral which is the responsibility of every person to his deceased relative. Also, we will like to say that attempts to frame one Naa Tampuri by the unethical actions of Haruna Sumaila Abugri should be disregarded. Naa Tampuri is a traditionist who is so passionate about the preservation of cultural heritage and he, just as thousands of Mamprugu youth in the diaspora, see Bawku as their true historic home. Thus, attempts to erase the historic foundations of Bawku by Kusasis such as Prof Agbango, Mohammed Nurudeen and Haruna Sumaila Abugri are the real threats to the peace of Bawku. It is a shame that Haruna Sumaila Abugri did not include in his biased publication that Naa Tampuri was actually only responding to threats by an elderly Kusasi man to the effect that they Kusasis will kill all Mamprusis who go to villages like Garu, Pusiga, etc for market activities.
We therefore call on the security agencies to consider inviting the above 3 people for serious questioning and caution on their inciteful publications. We further wish to request Joy News and the Herald News Paper to sanction their employees Mohammed Nurudeen and Haruna Sumaila Abugri respectively for their unethical and unprofessional conduct.
BRIEF HISTORY OF BAWKU AND PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS BY THE SELF-PROCLAIMED KUSASIS TO CHANGE THE NAME OF BAWKU
It is a settled historical fact that, Naa Gbewaa, the founder of the Mole-Dagbani Kingdom of which Mamprusis are part, lived, ruled and died in Pusiga which is about 13 km from Bawku. Till date his shrine is still in Pusiga. His descendants formed great Kingdoms to the North, South, East and West of Pusiga. There is NO historical mention of any other Kingdom called ‘Kusaug’ during and after Naa Gbewaa’ within the Bawku area. In fact, till date, descendants of Naa Gbewaa in faraway Burkina Faso which is an extension of the great Mole-Dagbani Kingdom still pay homage to the Nayiri (Overlord of Mamprugu). This together with the absence of any known historical Kingdom called ‘Kusaug’ point to the fact that the entire area from Nalerigu to the Mossi Kingdom in present day Burkina Faso was under the influence and territory of the Mamprusis. Thus, it is inconceivable that any other Kingdom could have existed and survived right in the middle of the Great Mamprugu Kingdom.
In order to safeguard the trade route from Burkina Faso in the North to other neighboring Kingdoms to the south, Naa Atabia who was the 10th Nayiri and who by tradition was the overlord of the entire stretch from Nalerigu to Moshi land in Burkina Faso established Bawku in the 17th Century with his son, Naa Ali Atabia as the first Chief of the town. Indeed, all historians agree that the name of the town Bawku is a Mamprusi word which means a valley referring to the low-lying nature of the town if viewed from the escarpment in Nakpanduri.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the real reason why the so-called Kusasis have been and are still very incessant in their bid to erase the name Bawku. They know the name of the town fully exposes their false claim of ownership and founding of the town. It was after the establishment of the town Bawku through the sacrifice by the Mamprusis to safeguard the territory in terms of security that caused it to develop quickly for settlers like the self-proclaimed Kusasis to migrate to settle. The Original Kusasis who migrated from their historical enclave of Ayuiga, Biengo and Zawga in present day Burkina Faso to settle around Bawku would never dream of fighting their Mamprusi host or claim to be landowners not to talk of trying to change the name of Bawku which predates their settlement.
It is thus understandable why the so-called Kusasis who were only beneficiaries of the toil and bravery of the Mamprusis will attempt changing the name of Bawku now because; they have turned themselves into self-styled owners of the land. This is not the first time this group of so-called Kusasis without lineage through their appendages have attempted to change the name of Bawku. They attempted in the year 1999 to change the name of the town from Bawku to Agoltinga. This their attempt was spearheaded by the likes of Cletus Avoka who even though is not a Kusasi and neither from Bawku but did so because he needed favors from them politically. This attempt was fiercely resisted by the Mamprusi Youth and it was shelved until now that it has been clandestinely incorporated into the LI 2409.
OBSERVATIONS AND DEMANDS TO THE NATIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS AND GOVERNMENT
Ladies and gentlemen, we the Mamprusi Youth as part of our obligations are bringing this matter to the attention of the National House of chiefs to rectify this grave error specifically in relation to the section ‘Members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs’ of L.I 2409. We wish to make the following observations and recommendations:
- In listing the various paramount chiefs in Upper East, it says (a) the paramount chief of (ii) Kusaug (Bawku). We find this attempt of replacing Bawku with ‘Kusaug’ a sacrilegious attempt to distort/change over 300 years of the history of Bawku and its surrounding areas. As previously indicated, the word ‘Kusaug’ is an alien nomenclature as far as the history of Bawku and the Bawku Traditional Council is concerned. Furthermore, it is a serious indictment that of all the various traditional areas captured in the Upper East Region, it is only the supposed ‘Kusaug’ that there was a need to attach Bawku in brackets to provide clarity to the fraudulent word ‘Kusaug’. This clearly demonstrates the fact that the word ‘Kusaug’ is alien to the Chieftaincy institution in Ghana and that Bawku is the proper nomenclature that provides clarity.
- This subtle change of the name Bawku is in direct contravention to the wisdom that was displayed by the leadership of the chieftaincy institution and Government in 1999 when the Self-Proclaimed Kusasis first attempted to change the name of the town.
- Looking at the gravity of this error, we are forced to believe that the fraudulent insertion of the alien “Kusaug” in L.I 2409 was done without the knowledge of the leadership of the National House of Chiefs. This is because the issue of changing the name of the town/traditional council has always been a security threat and if the leadership of the National House of Chiefs was aware they would not have permitted this fraud.
We therefore call on the National House of Chiefs to take immediate steps to rectify this great fraud perpetrated on the people of Bawku and the chieftaincy institution.
- We express our greatest disappointment in the current Government for supervising this fraud. This is because not even the hostile PNDC/NDC government as it was towards Mamprusis in Bawku accepted to supervise this great fraud perpetrated at the over 300 years heritage of Bawku.
- We further wish to state that the appropriate and legally accepted name for the traditional council is the Bawku Traditional Council as clearly captured in section b under the heading ‘Members of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs’. Also, there is no known title called ‘Zugrana’ as far as the Bawku Traditional Council is concerned. The attempt to refer to Aninchema Abugrugo as Zugrana is an attempt in futility to equate him to the likes of Otumfour Asantehene, Nayiri of Mamprugu, Yaa Naa of Dagbon who are regarded as Kings of Kingdoms by the legislative instrument and permanent Presidents of their Regional House of Chiefs. Unlike these 3 Kingdoms mentioned above that supervise over Paramount areas like Bawku, the Bawku Traditional Council does not supervise over any paramount area. It has been from its inception under the Nayiri of Mamprugu even long before it was made a Paramount area in the 1930s. We therefore urge the various Government agencies to disregard the correspondence from the alien ‘Kusaug’ Traditional Council and alien Zugrana.
- We demand that the status quo be reversed immediately by withdrawing L.I. 2409 for correction to reflect the proper name of the traditional area as Bawku which has been in existence for over 300 years.
INCITEFUL ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THE NAME OF BAWKU SECONDARY SCHOOL
We are also aware that, this group of self-proclaimed Kusasis in a similar fashion has submitted petitions to change the name of the Bawku Senior High School to Azoka Senior High School. We wish to categorically state that we are opposed to this move. It should be very clear to anyone now that the predilection of this “lieneageless” so-called Kusasis to erasing Bawku in every historical data is vexatious and an assault on the cultural heritage of the town. History has it that Bawku is a cosmopolitan community where different ethnic groups such as Mamprusis, Mossis, Bissas, Hausas, true Kusasis and several other ethnic groups have taken as home after the town was founded in the 17th century. Thus, the best way to preserve the ethnic cohesion among the different ethnic groups is to preserve the name Bawku as the name of the secondary school. Any attempt to change the name of the school to Azoka will only be a reflection of the same attempt by the self-proclaimed Kusasis to erase the over 300 years name of Bawku. We urge the Board of Bawku Secondary School to immediately rescind their decision to approve the proposal for the change of name. We further urge the Government not to entertain the frivolous and vexatious attempt to change the name of the school.
CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, at a time when Original Traditional leaders all over Ghana are calling on Government for development, job creation and improvement in the lives of the people in their traditional areas, what else do we see here in Bawku? A group of so-called Kusasis, who are bent on rewriting the history of an ancient Greater Bawku.
As the mouthpiece of the oppressed in the society, we implore on you to take frantic efforts to help resolve this issue. An attempt to change the name of Bawku or the traditional council is a recipe for chaos and we as true descendants of the town, love peace that is why we are bringing this issue up.
We further urge the relevant authorities to act swiftly to correct this grave error which is an assault on the sanctity of the chieftaincy institution and the cultural heritage of Bawku.
Thank you for your time
Long Live Bawku
Long Live Mamprugu
Long Live Ghana
CONTACT:
Abdul Majeed Bagura 0245283946
CC:
ALL MEDIA HOUSES
Source: MyNewsGh.com/ 2021
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