Due to the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi and other compelling considerations, the residents of Wuru, a poor hamlet in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region, do not use the Ghana Cedi, the country’s official currency, as their primary form of commerce.
They can only take the cedi as legal cash or a medium of exchange if they are paid in CFA equivalent while selling their goods.
The town, which has a population of over 3,000, conducts business with the neighboring country of Burkina Faso and uses the CFA as its legal cash.
They trade in livestock, cereals, and shea nut as well as fowls.
Maize, millet, and sesame are the major crops produced in the area.
Wurupio Mahama Bataachia Dawuri IV, the chief of the area speaking to the GNA, said there was nothing wrong with spending a foreign currency in the area since they do not recognize themselves as Ghanaians because they have been neglected, and do not benefit from government projects.
He attributed the problem to among other things, poor road infrastructure, depreciation of the Ghana cedi, and increases in prices of petroleum products as well as Burkinabes being their only business partners.
The community, about 70 kilometres from Tumu borders Burkina-Faso and speaks only Kassem, the language of Navrongo and other Kassena Nankana communities of the Upper East Region.
It took the GNA more than three hours on a motorbike from Tumu to the community due to the deplorable nature of the road, which a vehicle cannot access.
The GNA visited the Sissala East Municipality to see the problems facing the people and to report on them for assistance from state actors.
Wurupio Dawuri explained that the Ghana Cedi and the CFA were spent concurrently, but that the people stopped accepting the Ghanaian currency due to depreciation and high fuel prices.
The chief said the Wuru community is only remembered during elections, where politicians come to “deceive” them for their votes.
He said: “We consider ourselves as being in a neutral zone. We do not know whether we belong to Ghana or Burkina-Faso because nobody cares about us,” and that they appealed for the support over the years that were ignored.
He explained that they have been compelled by circumstances to ignore the Ghana Cedi since they could not convey their products to any of the Ghanaian communities for sale because of a lack of roads and transportation.
“People come here to tell us that it is illegal for us to spend the CFA other than the cedis. We also tell them it is not our fault because the only way for us to survive is to accept the CFA since all the goods come from Burkina-Faso,” he said.
He expressed concern about the inability of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to register and get the Ghana Card for them due to the lack of network service in the area for registration.
Wurupio Dawuri said it was important for the government to ensure that the Wuru community gets good roads to be linked to the rest of Ghana to ensure the people belong to Ghana and enjoy the national cake.
He also appealed for water, communication networks, and security in the area since they cannot defend themselves from terrorists’ attacks.
Mr. Yakubu Fuseini Batong, the Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said the Tumu-Kunchokor-Wuru road had been awarded and that construction would soon start.
He said efforts were being made to construct and repair broken bridges on the Wuru road.