Kofi Bentil, vice president of Imani Africa, has urged the government to take strict action to address the security issues in Bawku.
He asserted that the longer it takes to resolve the delicate situation in the town, the more likely it is that residents will try to impose their own laws.
“We need to have the whole state security system take Bawku seriously, because they are citizens of Ghana and then do everything to make sure that lives are not lost in vain.
“If we do not do that, we will send a signal that when people lose their lives it does not matter and when we send those signals we are preparing ourselves for an explosion we cannot contain,” he is quoted to have said on JoyNews.
The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, had sworn to seek justice for seven of his people who he claimed had been killed by the military in the constituency during the course of the week.
The military then published a letter to defend their course of conduct. They stated that six armed guys were neutralized by the army after they confronted the group of them.
Mr. Bentil urges the government to propose solutions to the issue in light of this before the locals begin to believe they are not citizens of Ghana.
“All of us citizens should be very worried, because if people lose their lives in a state which has a government and security agencies and nothing serious seem to be done about it, consistently you would have a situation where people will give up and they will tend to defend themselves,” he said.
The Senior Vice President of Imani Ghana stressed that Ghana Armed Forces should review its approach to resolving the violence.
“We are getting to the point where I can imagine there are people living in Bawku who do not feel Ghanaian and they do not feel that the army is on their side and they do not feel that the government protects them, they do not feel that the army is there for their sake.
“God forbid if too many people in Bawku get that mindset, I do not think the people in Bawku are cowards or they are afraid of war per se,” he bemoaned.
The Bawku Municipality has been a hotspot for a number of years now due to recurrent Chieftaincy conflicts.