Solving the Bawku conflict: taking a cue from Chandigarh, Andorra and Bosnia Herzegovina

The  Bawku conflict has been raging for many years, and though lives and properties are being lost with occasional pauses in the conflict it goes on with no solution in sight. The problem seems to have historical antecedents with both sides having some logical claims. Multiple attempts have been made to solve the conflict using legal and military means but none has worked. However, there are other are other tried methods that have been used in other jurisdictions to solve similar but yet different situations but which ends up satisfying all polities involved. To find a solution, we can look at the example of Chandi­garh in India, the country of Andorra in Europe, as well as the once conflict and ethnic cleansing prone country of Bosnia Herzegovina in Europe. These have all used unique ways to solve such peculiar problems; a path that can be used for Bawku but in another way because of the unique construct of Bawku.

Conflicts are a part of life. As far as there are different perspectives and in­terests, interlinking pasts and different ways of understanding them, there are bound to the conflicts. Conflicts exists even in the animal kingdom. However, though animals fight until one loses or out of shear exhaustions rans away, for humans, the need to survive also suggests that ways must be found to resolve conflicts by negotiating our way out of it. Interestingly enough, the very things that bring conflict can be a source of strength. Sometimes the key to solving conflicts hides in plain sight.

The other way of looking at things

The story is told of a man who on his death, left 17 cows to his three children. The oldest was to get half (1/2) the cows. The second to get a third (1/3) while the youngest a ninth (1/9). Half of 17 means 8 and half. A third is 5.67 and the last was to get 1.89. There was no way of doing this without getting some of the cows killed. Even then some will lose and dividing the fractional components after each son has taken a whole will create further headaches. A nosy neighbour however found a solution. He added his own cow to help the sons solve their problem. The oldest took half (9). The middle one took six, and the last one took 2. These together amounted to 17 hence the neighbour took back his cow. It should be noted that each son got more than what he would have gotten if they had killed some cows to divide them. The one who was to get 8 and half rather got 9. The one who was to get 5.67 rather got 6 and the one who was to get 1.89 got 2. And the neighbour did not lose his cow.

Another story is told of two people fighting over what a number was. One said it was 9 and another said it was 6. They both thought the other was wrong, until they were repositioned to stand where the other was and realised that from the other person’s point of view, they were right. Sometimes it becomes easier to solve a problem if we look at things from each other’s point of view.

A conflict that is in no one’s interest

The Bawku conflict is in no one’s interest least of all the people of Bawku, the Nayiri or any of the feud­ing Bawku chiefs. Not only have lives been lost from all sides, but business, tourism and economic opportunities have been lost. Service men are refus­ing postings to Bawku or any of its neighbours. The mayhem has resulted in loss of lives even as far afield as Walewale. Innocent people who have nothing to do with the conflict have been killed simply because they may be Kusasi or Mamprusi. Even innocent strangers have lost their lives. It is not in the interest of the people of Ghana who have had to pump funds they do not even have into providing security. The people have had to endure cur­fews for ages. Natives of Bawku in various parts of Ghana sometimes are reluctant to visit relatives in Bawky for fear of getting killed. Various entities including banks and utility providers are refusing to go to Bawku to provide services. Bawku has thus been given a bad name.

However, the very thing that causes the conflict can be a source of unity. Bawku can join a few peculiar places in the world that has a very interest­ing arrangement with more than one leaders at the same time. The ethnic make-up of Bawku that has created this conflict and made Bawku a no go area, can also be a source of pride and an example that can draw people from all over the world to Bawku not only to see it as a rare example of unity but to expose Bawku’s tourism potential to the world. Bawku can leverage the name recognition it has now achieved by grabbing an opportunity by taking cues from the examples below

Chandigarh

Chandigarh is a major city in India that is curiously the capital of two separates states; Punjab and Haryana. The two states were formed after independence, when an Indian state of Punjab was divided. This Indian state of Punjab was itself formed the when an original state of Punjab before Indian independence was divided between Pakistan and India when a pre independent country of India was violently torn into two independent countries: India and Pakistan (Pakistan later disintegrated into today’s Pakistan and Bangladesh. Hence there is a state of Punjab in India and a state of Pun­jab in Pakistan. India faced a headache when it tried to divide its Punjab; The state capital, Chandigarh, was a very beautiful city that was specially de­signed by a Swiss born French archi­tect, Le Corbusier. Both Haryana and Punjab wanted it to be their capital. This was seemingly impossible. Both states had entrenched positions. The government of India found a way to solve the problem. They made Chan­digarh the capital of the both states but with a catch; the city also belongs to none. The government made Chan­digarh what is called a union territory. Union territories are managed by the Government of India.

Andorra

Another entity with an interesting leadership is the country of Andorra in Europe that interestingly always has two heads of state concurrently. One of the two heads of states is the sitting President of France and the other being the Bishop of Urgell.

The Andorrans are a distinct group of people who have existed since ancient times. Andorra’s population in 2023 was 80,856. Andorra is said to be the last of three states which were formed as a buffer to stop the Muslem invasion of Spain. Their King, the count of Foix, eventually became the King of France but the Andor­rans maintained their independence and identity: Andorra had originally being ruled in parts by some Bishops of the Catholic Church. In the year 793, some Arab invaders trying to conquer Spain killed some Bishops and destroyed parts of Andorra. The city was reconstructed and ruled by the Urgell Church through counts. In the year 1278, the current State of Andorra was formed through a treaty between the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix. The Count of Foix became the King of France. After the French revolution and the abolition of the French Monarchy, the ensuing French President also became a co-Head of State of Adorra in addition to the Bishop of Urgell. So currently, Andorra is thus a full-fledged nation with two heads of state.

Bosnia Herzegovina

The third example of a country with multiple heads of state at the same time is the country of Bosnia Herzegovina in Eastern Europe. This country has not two but three sitting Presidents. It had suffered a major ethnic upheaval that resulted in ethnic cleansing between its different ethnic groups. The conflict was far worse than anything Bawku is facing. One of the mechanisms that was used in to solve the conflict was to form the unique presidential system where the presidency is made up of the ethnic groups that make up the country and which were fighting among them­selves: a Croat, a Serb and a Croatian. This unique arrangement appears to have satisfied the different segments of the society and also lead to peace and progress.

Having given these examples however, I must state that I am by no means saying that the methods used in any of them should be used for Bawku. Not only are these three using different methods but they are all unique. Furthermore, Bawku’s situation is traditional. Chandigarh’s is political, Andorra’s situation is both religious and political and a handover from history whilst Bosnia Herzegov­ina’s a resolution by higher powers to solve an ethnic conflict. However, what is clear from all these examples is that they have had ingenuous ways to solve seemingly unsurmountable prob­lems by finding unique ways to satisfy multiple polities in their societies by sharing power when actually sharing none.

In trying to find a solution to the Bawku conflict, certain things are clear.

1. Bawku is inhabited by both Kusasis and Mamprusis

2. Both groups have lived there for eons

3. Bawku is at the heart of Kusasi identity and is the central point for many Kusasi towns with Many of them looking up to Bawku for leader­ship

4. Bawku is also a major centre for Mamprusis and close to where the tomb marking where the founder of the Mamprusi, Dagomba and Nanum­ba kingdoms is located. It thus holds a unique value to not only to Mam­prusis but their junior brothers, the Dagombas and Nanumbas but also to their extent their sisters, the Moshie. The Nayiri has also had his subjects in Bawku for centuries. The Mamprusis in Bawku have also always looked up to the Nayiri.

5. It is immaterial that Kusasis used to be acephalous because their acephalous nature did not mean they had no identity or linkages and as all human beings they metamorphose.

It is very clear that both the Kusasis and the Mamprusis hold Bawku dear and cannot give it up. Furthermore, the Mamprusis and Kusasis in Bawku have lived together for centuries and built their lives and the town for cen­turies and will continue to live together for years to come unless gravity will act differently on some and send some into the air and leave some on the ground and hence what is happening now is in no one’s interest and has cost all a lot.

My suggestion for coming to a compromise and peace in Bawku is to recognise the unique history of Bawku and to recognise the claims of all its polities and their interests. A compro­mise that will recognise the interest of both polities and find a way of letting them work together and that will turn Bawku from an example of all that is wrong into another of the few examples of multi-archies in the world that people will want to travel to. This unique experiment can let Bawku leverage on its name recognition to push its unique situation into a vast tourism potential.

My proposal is to adopt something traditional but similar and yet different in multiple ways to the multi-archies already listed by having two chiefs in Bawku who will act together but have different roles that together form a seamless whole. There will be a Co-Chief (Bawku Naba for the Kusasis) who will oversee Kusasi interests and be a link between Bawku and all Kusasi towns, and another Co-Chief (Bawku Naba) who will be for the Mamprusis and will look up to the Nayiri. The two will act together on Bawku affairs and oversee Bawku, with the Mamprusi one bringing the Mamprusis under control and the Kusasi one bringing the Kusasis under control.

The nitty-gritties of how this diar­chy will ran can be addressed by tra­ditional authorities or eminent chiefs that can be appointed to mediate on this matter. When a vacancy occurs in any of these two, the other side will continue to play their assigned role as the affected side goes through their own processes to install the overlord of their side.

To heal the obvious wounds that have been created by this conflict, a truth and reconciliation mechanism can be set up to deal with it.

A festival of unity can be instituted to be celebrated yearly to celebrate this unity and serve as a reminder to the people of Bawku and probably to the entire nation that there are unifying ways to solve divisive problems. The resolution of this conflict should be left to the traditional authorities to solve as the politicians take a back seat.

Though Bawku seems to have become an albatross around our necks as a nation, portraying not just Bawku but the entire northern Ghana in bad light, Bawku can become a beacon of hope of all traditional authorities in Ghana and beyond, that there is a united way to share and put Bawku on the map as an example to be celebrat­ed.

Daniel Asseh Allan is a civil and water resources engineer

BY DANIEL A. ALLAN