Minister of Interior says situation in Bawku now firmly under control
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - Parliament on Tuesday deferred the motion on the National Reconciliation Bill till Thursday when the Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey and the Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, who have travelled, might have returned from their journeys.
The Speaker has gone outside the country while Mr Bagbin was said to have gone to his constituency, Nadowli South. Mr Freddie Blay, First Deputy Speaker, deferred putting the question on the motion when Papa Owusu-Ankomah, the Majority Leader requested that line of action should be taken after consultations with the leadership of the House.
Mr Doe Adjaho, Minority Chief Whip, promptly seconded the Majority Leader's position and said, "We are still consulting".
The Bill seeking to unite the country and to redress human rights violations suffered a set back on Friday, November 29, when the Minority walked out of the House as Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice was winding up a debate at the end of the second reading of the bill.
The Minority accused the Minister of using abusive language and demanded an apology from him. The two sides of the House stuck to their positions with respect to the time frame that the Bill would cover.
The government said the National Reconciliation Commission to be established should concern itself with abuses during military regimes while the Minority insisted that the reconciliation efforts should date back to the day of Ghana's independence.
The House with 107 votes with none against resolved to ratify the agreement between Ghana and US on Narcotics Control. It was moved by the Minister of the Interior, Alhaj Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu moved the motion on the resolution.
The House also adopted three reports from its two committees, which were the Public Accounts Committee's report of the Auditor General on the Consolidated Fund for 1996, 1997 and 1998.
The rest were the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation on the Export and Import (Prohibition of Importation of Used LPG Cylinders) Instrument, 2001, LI 1693 and the report on the Water Use Regulations 2001 LI 1692.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - The Minister of the Interior, Alhaji Malik Al-hassan Yakubu on Tuesday said the situation in the Bawku area was now firmly under control following the reinforcement of military and police personnel sent there.
He said he had accordingly issued an executive instrument to back the curfew imposed in the area as a requirement for a controlled atmosphere and to enable the security agencies to contain the situation.
Alhaji Yakubu said this when he made a statement in Parliament on the communal violence that erupted in Bawku in the Upper East Region over the weekend.
He said so far, 18 people were reported killed and twenty-one wounded, property destroyed included a number of kiosks and stores and over thirty houses.
The Minister said following the deterioration of the situation, the Upper East Regional Security Council requested for reinforcement and as at the time he was talking there were a total of 130 military and 107 police personnel in the area and more reinforcements were expected fro Wa to supplement the number.
Alhaji Yakubu said steps were being taken to address the effects of the fighting in terms of medical and food relief and shelter requirements while strategies were being put in place to make it difficult for people to embark on further actions of violence.
He said it was well known that for over 50 years the area had been gripped in boiling chieftaincy conflict, essentially between Mamprusis and Kusasis which previous governments had taken various steps to solve but lasting and permanent solution had not been achieved.
Alhaji Yakubu said the NPP Government believed that the most efficacious approach should be the employment of preventive diplomacy which revolved on getting the feuding parties to dialogue constantly on their differences so that agreements reached would be the potent panacea to their problems.
He said President John Agyekum Kufuor on the assumption of office placed the Bawku issue on top priority and had held meetings with both sides of the conflict urging and encouraging them to live in peace and harmony.
The Minister said the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama had also been in regular contact and mediation with the opposing sides and had met with the Bawku Naba and reassured him of the government's concern.
Alhaji Yakubu reiterated the government's belief n the amicable solution to differences but it would also want to make it clear that insofar as the overwhelming majority of Ghanaians cherished peace and orderly life, government would give no chance at all to trouble makers.
He gave the assurance that "the security agencies were capable, able, willing and ready to secure the country firmly against trouble makers". Alhaji Yakubu said with just the two days of fighting, about 200 million cedis had been spent for logistics for victims of the conflict and the requirements of the security personnel.
He appealed to traditional authorities to take bold steps to settle chieftaincy and land disputes amicably since the glory of the institution was enhanced when the people lived in peace.
Members of Parliament also have a vital role to play and urged them to include preventive diplomacy in their interaction with their constituents while the media could also play a vital role by educating the people on the dangers of wars and the value of dialogue to address differences.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - Members of Parliament would attend the rest of the week's sittings in Ghanaian made clothing.
Mr Freddy Blay, First Deputy Speaker, who presided on Tuesday, told the
House that local designers had appealed to the House to go traditional to help boost the local textile industry.
He said the gesture would also coincide with the "Fashion week" which closes on December 7, adding that "our local designers have put together various activities to showcase 'Made in Ghana' clothes"
Members did not comment but it was expected that the days ahead would witness various traditional designs and for the first time in living memory, the occupier of the Speaker's chair would be in a traditional wear.
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