The youth of Bawku in the Upper East Region have called on government to ensure a joint security escort of vehicles on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom highway.
They also demand same be done on the Bolgatanga-Tamale highway to stop the killing and maiming of innocent people.
Their request follows several attacks of vehicles by gunmen in the wake of the renewed chieftaincy conflict in the area.
So far, about 30 people have lost their lives following the impasse, with about 17 lives claimed on attacks of vehicles carrying passengers on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom international highway and the Bolgatanga-Tamale highway, respectively.
In a petition to the Upper East Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Mamprugu Youth Association (MAYA), Bawku chapter, described as worrying the continuous attack on “innocent” people on the road, and prevailed on the Minister to set the wheels in motion as far as their request for a joint security escort of vehicles was concerned.
“We wish to commend the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), the Joint Security Task Force and the Ghana Police Service in particular for the sacrifices and hard work exhibited to contain and maintain relative peace in the area.
“We would like to draw the attention of the Regional Minister and the authorities that be on the atrocities on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom highway. We demand your office acts swiftly to provide regular, planned and schedule security escorts for the citizens within Bawku,” the President for MAYA, Mr Seidu Awudu Bagura, has disclosed.
He added that the highway had recorded over 50 fatal attacks since 2021, and it was about time the government and security agencies in the country put up urgent measures to arrest the situation.
He further indicated that, “A recent example is the attack along the Pusiga- Cinkasse highway that resulted in the death of nine women including a Togolese. A more recent attack was at Misiga on the Bawku-Pulmakon highway on Saturday, October 26 and Thursday, October 31, 2024, which saw vehicles attacked and lives lost.”
Mr Awudu also appealed to the youth in Bawku and its environments to desist from sporadic gunshots, since it had dealt a big blow on the development and progress of Bawku, a once vibrant municipality in the Upper East Region.
So far, 30 people have lost their lives in just 12 days of the renewed chieftaincy hullabaloo in Bawku, with hundreds of natives displaced from the municipal.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, BAWKU