AVOIDING THE ISSUES THAT MATTER

Bawku is troubled. As at yesterday (Sunday, November 3, 2024), it had been reported that at least twenty-one (21)
souls had been lost through the Mamprusi –Kusasi conflict and the vexed question of who deserves to be
Bawkunaba (Chief of Bawku).
The little historical reading I have been doing, suggest that less than a hundred years ago, we did not have such a
position in the area. The Bawkunaba was an institution created by the Colonial Masters, who created a Mamprusi
Chieftain in an area where the Kusasi were better settled and had tendanas (land owners).
The history shows that the Kusasi, who originally occupied the land, did not, traditionaly, have chiefs or know
chiefs conceptually. It was a British imposition, to ensure that they had a better hold of the place by indirect rule.
The history suggests that the first known Bawkunaba was a Mamprusi. The council of chiefs that elected him,
however, were largely Kusasi.
Nearly a century later, this has created an intractable problem, which, once in a while, bursts out in conflicts,
destruction of property, and deaths.
The Bawku conflict, however, is currently very much in the news. The interesting aspect of it, though, is that it is a
subject that seems to be anathema to all the politicians, except, possibly, those candidates who have to live with it
on the ground. They are truly in a bind.
The two leading political parties are avoiding the subject as if it has cholera. And understandably so. One wrong
word, and six whole constituencies would be down the tube.
But what we, as citizens should be asking is this; do we want leaders who are afraid of tackling the real problems of
the people and the country?
Another issue that has been making headlines, is road accidents. In the past month, there has been at least three
major accidents that have claimed over fifty lives. One would have thought that the political parties and their
leaders, who are looking for votes, would be saddened by the fact that at least fifty people will not be voting in
December.
Yet, we are yet to hear from the political parties on the issue of road accidents, and how to make the roads safer
for all. One hopes that they themselves do not encounter any accidents, once they are crisscrossing the length and
breadth of the country. At least if that happens, one can be certain that they will speak. Definitely.
As we went to press yesterday, I read that Cholera has broken out in the Central region. Once Ghana has decided
to destroy its water sources, diseases like cholera, dysentery and many others that have affinity with water or lack
of it, are likely to emerge.
I would not be surprised if we see more people coming down with cholera, just as I would not be surprised if we do
not hear a peep from either Mahamadu Bawumia, or his brother John Mahama.
So far, five additional people would not be voting in December. They are dead.
And expressing concern and proposing a solution, is unlikely to bring any new votes. Don’t expect either John or
Mahamadu to speak on this.
And I can go on and on and on. The fact is that our two leading political institutions are a planet of their own,
totally divorced from our reality. One is busy promising a twenty-four hour economy, to a nation hampered by
poor banking, a seriously compromised land administration system, poor policing and security, inadequate energy
and power, rising inflation and a seriously depreciating currency. He has no credible solutions for any of these
debilitating problems. But he is dead certain that he would create an economy that works round the clock.
Meanwhile, his counterpart is no better. In a nation where the majority of the people do not have safe water,
where the public education system produces chaff at the basic level, where the majority of the population has to
engage in peasant farming, where the roads are killing fields and nurses and doctors demand money from patients
before the attend a curing hand, where some communities share water sources with cows and other ruminants, he
is busy declaiming digitalization.
I could weep. Because these are not leaders who live, know or care about our reality. They live on their own
planet, and we live in ours.
(PERISCOPE DEPTH of Monday, 4 th November, 2024. PERISCOPE DEPTH is published every Monday in the Daily
Searchlight).