A security and international relations expert is excited about the progress a committee chaired by Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II that was tasked to look into the Dagbon crisis has made but wants a measured jubilation.
Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso believes the committee and related stakeholders may have a lot more work on their hands if the issues relating to the conflict between the Abudus and the Andanis will be completely resolved.
His comments come as the Asantehene announced a roadmap for peace in the Dagbon crisis. That plan will begin with the organisation of two funerals for two dead chiefs from each faction which will be organised between December 2018 to January 2019.
How and where the two deceased chiefs must be buried have been the centre of over a decade-long crisis between the Abudus and Andanis which has led to the loss of hundreds of lives.
It is hoped that the burials will pave way for the enskinment of a new Ya-Na for the people of Dagbon.
Presenting the report to the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, the Asantehene and his two compatriots Yagbonwura Tuntumba Bore Essa I, Overlord of the Gonja Traditional Area and Nayiri Naabohagu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga, Overlord of the Mamprugu said their job is not done until a new Ya-Na is enskinned.
Asked if there is redemption on the horizon for the people of Dagbon, Dr Antwi-Danso who is also the Director of Academics at the Ghana Armed Forces Command said “somehow yes, but we need to say hurray with caution.”
“Conflicts become intractable and when you are resolving them you must think of residual matters,” he added.
For him, the absence of the Bole La Naa and the Regent of Dagbon during the presentation of the roadmap to the president is indicative of the fact that things are not entirely resolved.
In order for conflict resolution to take place, Dr Antwi-Danso is of the view that although it is important for the echelons to be involved, the people at the bottom are also very essential in arriving at a solution.
“I think Otumfuo and his group have done very well but it looks as though the top echelons have agreed but the footsoldiers and those who are benefiting from the status quo have not been made to understand the issues.”
He fears that the non-involvement of these footsoldiers may bring to naught all the work the Otumfuo and the committee has done so far and that should not be allowed to happen.
These signs he believes are already showing with a concerned group of the Andani Royal family releasing a statement to disagree with the decision to perform the funeral rites of the late Naa Mahamadu Abdulai at the Gbewaa Palace.
According to the group, the move is “unprecedented and offensive to the Dagbon custom and the law – a Supreme Court order qualifying the title of ‘former Yaa Naa - and that Naa Mahamadu Abdulai has never occupied the Nam of Yendi.”
Dr Antwi-Danso said this would have been avoided if people at the bottom of the conflict tree had been engaged.
“Those who are present may have agreed but those who are supporting them and benefitting from the conflict were not part of the decision making process. We have talked to the Andanis, we’ve talked to the Abudus, the top echelons and they have agreed on the process which the Otumfuo outlined but those at the bottom who are benefitting from the conflict are those who are telling their elders they won’t support it.
“And I am saying we have not been able to get them to be part of the process,” he added.
In order to reap the benefits of the resolution process in the long term, Dr Antwi Danso wants continued talks because it will not go away just like that.
“It is a matter of finding those who profit from the conflict and talk to them or take measures that will leave them uninterested in the conflict.”
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