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

Fight Over Dead Baby

Posted: Daily GUide |Saturday, 10 April 201o

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Mr & Mrs VaahThe death of a baby boy, minutes after his birth, at the Lister Hospital has sparked a raging controversy between his parents and management of the health facility, located along the Spintex road in Accra.

The boy’s parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Vaah, accused the staff of the hospital of ‘professional incompetence and negligence’, which they claimed contributed to the death of their baby on March 9, 2010.

Though management of the hospital had come out with a statement to deny any complicity in the death of the boy, since according to them “our doctors continually work hard to excel and deal with medically challenging cases to the best of their human ability and thus cannot be termed as professionally incompetent”, his parents insisted he would not have died if the medical personnel on duty, on the day, had taken good care of his mother during delivery.

Whilst extending their deepest condolences to the parents, family and friends of baby Nyilale Vaah, the management of Lister Hospital insisted that its personnel were in no way negligent and or acted negligently and did not agree with any claim for compensation whatsoever.

For this reason, they declined to pay the amount of GH¢2million being demanded by Mr. and Mrs. Vaah as compensation for their loss.

However, the parents said they were in talks with their lawyers to determine the next line of action on the issue.

In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, management of the hospital expressed regret at the devastating pain currently being endured by the family as a result of the loss of their baby, a situation that rarely arose at the Lister Hospital.

Management of the hospital narrated how they promised to conduct a formal internal enquiry into the issue when it came up and therefore asked Mrs. Vaah to put in an official request for a post mortem on the baby to ascertain the cause of death, to which they consented.

Aside that, they also claimed to have offered support from the hospital’s Clinical Psychologist for the parents, which they declined.

Furthermore, the Medical Director of Lister Hospital was said to have been in constant touch with the Vaahs after the woman had been discharged from the hospital, to enquire about their welfare.

In line with an agreement by both parties, the hospital’s management noted that the day after his death, the body of the baby was sent to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for a postmortem examination and same was communicated to the parents.

“Though Mr. Vaah was very persistent in his demand for the body, the procedure of an examination postmortem was explained to him and details of the Pathologist were readily given to him to make contact if he had any further questions or misgivings,” the statement noted.

Mr. Vaah was indeed said to have contacted the Pathologist with various details and gave the impression that he was satisfied with proceedings until the final report was released.

“As soon as the Pathologist called that he had an initial diagnosis but needed time to do further investigations to establish the cause of the initial diagnosis, the body of baby Vaah was released to his parents, a death certificate was prepared and they came to pick it up and explained to the Medical Director that they were keen to travel to Axim and bury their son next to his grandfather,” the hospital’s management said.

The management of the hospital emphasised that it was therefore surprised when it received a letter from the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), acting on behalf of the Vaahs, leveling various allegations of professional incompetence and negligence against the hospital and demanding a sum of Two Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 2,000,000) as compensation.

Solicitors of the hospital were said to have responded to the letter and indicated its inability to give any response till the Pathologist submits a full report on the boy’s death, only for them to realize a foundation with the website www.vaahjuniorfoundation.org had been set up in honour of the deceased and all the allegations and more, which were contained in the letter from their Lawyers, repeated there.

According to the hospital, the final postmortem report indicated that the child may have died as a result of “multiple organ haemorrhages most probably due to a bleeding Diasthesis or Coagulation defect with bleeding precipitated by ‘trauma’ of labour (childbirth).”

A copy of the full “Postmortem” report is said to have since been made available to the Vaahs through their lawyers.

Motor Bikes Banned In Bawku

Posted: Daily Guide |Friday, 09 April 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga
Another death was recorded in Bawku yesterday, as a Moshie man was shot dead around 3:30 pm, in the volatile conflict zone.

No reason has been assigned for the shooting of the deceased, Adam Kayaba Osman alias Willa, but it is suspected to be linked to the recent target killings in the area.

The death of the man, who was gunned down between Misiga and Kulungugu in the Bawku municipality, came on the heels of a riot act read by the government to deal ruthlessly with trouble makers and their collaborators in the area.

Willa, a Moshie from Burkina Faso, was in a truck loaded with cola nuts and onions when he was pulled out and killed. Two others sustained gunshot wounds.

For a start, a ban has been placed on the use of motorbikes in the municipality, after security operatives detected that most of the killers use motorbikes to commit the heinous offence.

The National Security, through the District Information Service, announced a 24-hour ban on the riding of motorbikes, starting from April 9, 2010, until further notice.

This is likely to affect movement as most residents commute on motorbikes.

According to a DAILY GUIDE source, the message, which was passed through the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC), was initially hard for members including the Chairman, Abdulai Musah, to pass to the residents of the area.

This was probably due to the importance of motorbikes to the economy of the area, as well as the movement of the people of the area.

There had been a ban on riding motorbikes in the area, from 6:00pm.

DAILY GUIDE sources said people were seen hooting at the information van while it made the announcement through the township yesterday.

Efforts to talk to the MCE for the area, Abdulai Musah, who is also Chairman of MUSEC, proved futile, since his phone was either switched off or out of coverage area.

However, the Bawku Divisional Police Commander, Chief Supt Christopher Kwaku Boadu-Preprah, confirmed the ban, but could not give reasons for it.

DAILY GUIDE sources in Bawku said the information van had announced that the ban was necessary because motorbikes, being the main means of transport, have mostly been used in the target killings in the area.

From the reaction of the residents during the announcement, there is likely to be an uprising, which the National Security either failed to consider or has the intention of using severe force to implement.

Motorbike is the means of transport for most workers, including teachers, nurses, assembly staff, as well as traders and many others in the area, hence the ban is anticipated to bring the municipality to a standstill.

The ban covers all persons in the area, including the police, military, Assembly staff and other security personnel.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday, government vowed to deal ruthlessly with any individuals or group of persons who are found culpable in fueling the Bawku conflict.

It has indicated its preparedness to arrest and subsequently prosecute leaders and sponsors who incite violence in the area, saying with emphasis that “there will be no mercy.”

Information Minister, John Akologu Tia, told journalists that “there are sponsors of this conflict who sit in Accra and engage in shameless acts that exacerbate the situation”.

He therefore tendered in evidence a T-shirt with the inscription ‘original chiefs of Bawku’ which according to him, was printed in Accra and sent to Bawku to ostensibly provoke the anger of one of the feuding factions.

The Minister noted that these sponsors, who, instead of offering leadership in peace and mediation, have rather chosen the path of perdition and incitement, emphasizing that “we want them to know their hands are dripping with blood”.

Mr Tia gave his word that the security agencies are in the process of not only rounding up all these elements but “we want to make it clear that there will be no mercy for such persons” since according to him, “the inherent situation in Bawku is of much concern to government”.