Pregnant Woman Shot

Posted: Daily Guide |Saturday, April 10,2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Valentina Jovanoski
The raging chieftaincy dispute in the Bawku municipality seems to be far from over, as various interests groups and stakeholders take entrenched positions, coupled with alleged government interference and unwillingness to arrest and prosecute perpetrators of various acts of violence.

In the early hours of yesterday, yet another victim, this time a 30-year-old Moshie woman, Safia Jibril, was shot in an area called Bagabo in Bawku.

The Bawku divisional police Crime Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Adamu Salifu, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE said the victim was shot in the left arm and forefinger of the right hand.

DSP Salifu narrated that Safia, who is pregnant, was sleeping in her family house when a yet-to-be-identified gunman entered the house and opened fire on her in the early hours of yesterday around 4.00am when many were still in bed. She was thus rushed to the Presbyterian Hospital in Bawku for treatment.

Due to the seriousness of her injuries and the pain she was going through, the divisional Crime Officer told DAILY GUIDE that the Medical Officer in charge of the hospital has decided to transfer the victim to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi for further treatment since her life is at risk.

Indications are that Safia was shot with an AK 47 assault rifle since, according to the DSP Adamu Seidu, empty shells of the gun were discovered at the crime scene.

The shooting of Safia comes in the wake of the killing of another Moshie man, Adam Kayaba Osman alias Willa on Thursday. Osman was on a truck loaded with kola nuts and onions when he was pulled out and killed. Two others sustained gunshot wounds

With the fragile situation in the area, a group calling itself the Bawku Youth Development Association (BYDA) has accused the government of having a hand in the continuous violence between the ethnic groups in Bawku.

Members of the association claimed the NDC government has not only been unwilling to take action to stop the violence but also favoured the Kusasis over the Mamprusis.

An executive member of the association, Mamboda Osman Kariama, said state officials, including those at the National Security, have been intimidating and harassing members of one of the factions involved in the conflict.

Mr. Kariama therefore called on the Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo, to objectively assess the situation since things are getting out of hand.

The leader of the group lashed out at the Minister of Information, John Akologo Tia, for his criticism of a T-shirt worn by some Mamprusis at the just-ended Damba festival, a local Mamprusis celebration, on March 22. “The criticism shows the minister's biases,” he said.

The Minister, as well as the current 'Paramount Chief' of Bawku, Asigiri Abugurago Azoka II, took issue with the T-shirt since they consider it offensive due to the listing of former Mamprusi chiefs between 1721 and 1981 as the 'original' chiefs of Bawku.

Mr. Kariama however challenged Asirigi Abugurago Azoka to justify his lineage as a chief of Bawku before he can criticize the wearing of the T-shirt, asking rhetorically, “In any case, what justification is there for some Kusasi youth to fire sophisticated weapons at the outskirts simply because another tribe is celebrating their festival?”

He believes these criticisms are unfounded and noted that the Mamprusis who had been killed during the conflict were not wearing these T-shirts, suggesting that the shirts themselves were not the cause of the violence.

That notwithstanding, members of the Bawku Youth Development Association alleged that some Kusasis have also been seen wearing T-shirts with derogatory depictions of Mamprusis in which they (the Mamprusis) have been portrayed as monkeys with someone flogging the monkey with a cane.

He wondered why this disparaging depiction has not received any form of condemnation from government and the Information Minister.

Mr. Kariama also claimed that over 30 Mamprusi members and their sympathizers have been killed on the outskirts of Bawku and the Kusasi enclaves since the current government came to power, without a single arrest in connection with the murders.

He suggested that a possible solution to this conflict would be for the government to bring the two factions together in a televised roundtable discussion to work out their differences.

Bawku has for many years experienced ongoing ethic conflict between the Mamprusis and Kusasis, which has often resulted in outbreaks of violence and gruesome tit-for-tat murders. By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Valentina Jovanovski