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Looming ethnic conflict in the Bole Traditional Area - A call for concern

At the 13th Biannual Congress of Vagla Youth Association held on December 28, 2019, the Public Relations Officer of the Brifor Youth Association, Ankaara Sankara said it was time all the ethnic groups in the Savannah Region should have representation on the Regional House of Chiefs and that certain traditions like the catching of fowls for some cultural sacrifices should be stopped since it could destabilize the peace we all enjoy.

Date Created : 1/6/2020 6:34:06 AM : Story Author : Takora Iddrisu Benjamin/Ghanadistricts.com

The tradition of catching of fowls in the Bole traditional area and for that matter, Gonjaland is an old age tradition handed over by the ancestors to the present-day generation. These fowls catching is usually done by the landowners once every year for the purification of the land into ensuing farming season for a bumper harvest and good health for the people. Stopping it as claimed by Ankara is the looming conflict I am seeing going forward.

There could be a better way to deal with it and not the authoritative wish of the young man. There should be a better and generally accepted way of doing it by both the indigenous people and the Brifors and that should be through dialogue.

Ankara also called for the representation of all ethnic groups into the Savanna Regional House of Chiefs.

But the question is, do the Brifors have Chiefs in Gonjaland?

We want peace in the Savannah Region but the utterances of some of the likes of Ankaara have the tendency to bring confusion. He is becoming notorious for very inflammatory statements for far too long. His name seems to be on the lips of every Gonja in the Bole Traditional Area.

He must be called to order and be made clear to him that Vaglas and Safalbas and are indigenous to Gonjaland and have recognized Chiefs and so their inclusion into the House of Chiefs is not a big deal. Any attempt by the likes of Ankaara Sankara to agitate for the inclusion of Brifors into the Savannah Regional House of Chiefs is an exercise in futility and is the only recipe for confusion and a call for concern to all well-meaning citizens of Gonjaland

Brifors have community leaders called headsmen in the Bole Traditional Area and that should be enough?

It should also be made clear that Chieftaincy is not the same as politics.

Brifors have political representation across the Bole and Kong Traditional areas to the extent the current NPP Parliamentary candidate for the Bole- Bamboi Constituency is a Brifor. By this it means we can have a Brifor MP for the Bole- Bamboi Constituency in 2021 and that is enough.

It is an already known case that the people of the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Constituency have confidence in Brifors and have consistently elected Brifors as Members of Parliament of the area since 1992 with the current MP being the third Brifor to have been elected as MP consecutively.

For some Brifor elite to agitate for the inclusion of Brifors into the Traditional Chieftaincy structure of Gonjaland is very problematic and a recipe for future trouble.