Bawumia calls for peace as he visits Saboda, Chereponi

Ghana’s Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has appealed to the people of Saboba and Chereponi to put their differences aside and smoke the peace pipe.

He was accompanied by the Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery; Deputy IGP Oppong Boanuh; the Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service, Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi; the ministers of the Northern, Savanna and North East regions, and other senior government officials, the Vice-President visited the Paramount Chief of Saboba, Bowan John Mateer Sakojim IV, and the regent of Chereponi, Jaminja Ndakar Malba on Monday, 3 June 2019 and urged the two leaders to help resolve the issues that have led to sporadic disturbances in recent times.

The police have confirmed the death of one person following renewed clashes between the Konkombas and Anufos around Chereponi and Saboba. A number of people also sustained various degrees of injury while efforts are being made to secure the peace.

Dr Bawumia, who is in the North East Region on the last day of the 2019 edition of his nationwide Ramadan tour, pointed out that only the people of Saboba and Chereponi, who are mostly Konkombas and Anufos, more widely known as Chekosis, can bring about a lasting peace, adding that conflict is depriving the ordinary persons in the area the opportunity to enjoy some of the many development programmes being rolled out by the government.

“If there’s going to be peace which is so necessary for the development of this country; if there’s going to be peace, it is going to be peace amongst the two particular peoples, the Konkombas and the Chekosis. And I know that when the Paramount Chief of Saboba speaks, the Konkombas listen; when KOYA (Konkomba Youth Association) speaks the youth listen. And, so, I’m one of the happiest people to be in this palace today to listen to the overlord as he spoke those words of peace, and the seeking of peace in this country between the Konkombas and Chekosis.

“It is pleasing so much to me. Honestly, I cannot wait to get back on the phone with the President to report what has just happened here this morning. It is good news for Ghana that as in the words of the President of KOYA, ‘when we say we have stopped, we have stopped’. Those are very pleasing words.”

Vice-President Bawumia applauded moves by the Paramount Chief of Saboba to meet with the Regent of Chereponi to discuss ways to secure a lasting peace.

“What we need to focus on, is not to take the peace for granted. We are working on the peace. We have to fight for the peace also and so we have to continue. I really appreciate the effort by the Paramount chief here to also meet with the Regent in Chereponi for them to work out this peace together. That is what really makes it lasting; that the two people should sit down together, and for my part I am sure when we get back to Accra, given the reports that we receive, I am sure the President will also call both parties to come to the Jubilee House so that we’ll talk some more about the peace. It is very very important,” he emphasised.

Vice-President Bawumia announced that the Police Council had agreed to the setting up and equipping of police posts in Saboba and Chereponi to further strengthen the peace.

“We are going to work together, and we’ll be keeping an eye on making sure we fight for the peace because it’s very important. We will talk to all the parties – the DCEs and the security services – to see that we are all one people and we have to live in peace together.

The Paramount Chief of Saboba, Bowan John Mateer Sakojim IV, and the President of the Konkomba Youth Association, Charles Nyojah, had earlier pledged their commitment to ending the conflict and securing lasting peace. On his part, the Regent of Chereponi, Jaminja Ndakar Malba thanked Government for reacting speedily to the latest violence and preventing it from escalating. The people of Chereponi, he said, are ready to live at peace with everybody.