According to a report by Ghanaweb, on Friday, 13th September, 2024, Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, has disclosed in an interview on TV3 news, his unsuccessful efforts to mediate the ongoing conflict in Bawku located in the Upper East Region.
He attributed the failure to resistance from key government ministers.
He explained that he wanted to bring peace to Bawku by organizing a mediation team made up of respected figures and stakeholders.
He believed his intervention could help resolve the situation, which is rooted in a longstanding chieftaincy dispute.
However, his requests for government support were repeatedly denied.
According to the Speaker of Parliament, he approached Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul and National Security Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah several times and asked them to approve his mission, but they both refused.
“There were a number of times I made requests to lead a non-partisan national team of senior citizens just because of my position as Speaker to Bawku to try to intervene, to try and find a solution to the problem there. And I begged the Minister of Defence, the Minister of the Interior, the national security minister a number of times just to give me that opportunity. But I cannot go there without their approval.
“And I would have set out a team of stakeholders to go there, visit and try to mediate. These requests were denied. If you know the history, it has to do with chieftaincy. In fact, it has to do with rulership – who is in charge? That basically is part of politics, part of governance. And so, you need people with that experience to be part and parcel of the mediation process,” the Speaker narrated.
He added that he believed their intervention could make a difference and even held a meeting in Parliament to endorse it.
“I held a meeting with some senior citizens from the area in Accra. They endorsed it and all wanted to see me there. I had to call the Ghana Police Service to inform them” he stated.
Alban Bagbin who has been an MP for almost 28 years, contrasted his current experience with his previous success resolving a similar issue. He remembered his role in calming the chieftaincy crisis in Yendi when he was a minority leader.
Bagbin led a peace mission in Yendi with the support of the Kufuor government, where he worked with various stakeholders to decrease the fire.
