NUGS Press Release On Bawku Conflict

Press Release Issued On Wednesday 11th June, 2008 By NUGS Secretariat Of The University Of Cape Coast,On The Bawku Conflict

We wish to add our voice to the numerous calls on the major parties involved in the Bawku Conflict to bring to a perpetual end the perennial conflict.

We believe that as students, we are partners in development and also the hope for the near future. This is why we of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), University of Cape Coast Secretariat, wish to express emphatically that the Bawku Conflict is not and has never been in the interest of students in the Bawku Municipality, Ghana and the world at large.

It is against this background that we are calling on the chiefs, elders and all and sundry who are stakeholders in the conflict to smoke the peace pipe and restore calm to the once a vibrant business hub of the North.

The long standing, development impeding and destructive Bawku Conflict has had an adverse effect on the students at both Junior High and Senior High Schools who were seriously preparing for their exams over the past six months. There is no doubt that their inability to have sound mind and conducive atmosphere to study would affect their final results in their respective exams. Students have had to stay out of school because of the curfew imposed on them. This, indeed, is against the right of students in the Republic of Ghana and as such has stifled the academic work in the Bawku Municipality. In addition, monies that were supposed to be used for educational infrastructure and development have all been siphoned into ensuring lasting peace at Bawku. It is on record that over GH ¢ 300,000 have so far been committed by the Bawku Municipal Assembly to maintain law and order at the area. This amount is said to exclude that which the central government is committing into peace of the area. This indeed tells the gravity of the losses as against development since all attention is now directed towards the conflict and not on the development of the area.

On the way forward, the secretariat recommends that; A) the government continues the process of ensuring a lasting peace by maintaining the security personnel with out any complacency. B) adequate measures should be put in place to accelerate the prevailing peace. Measures such as educational campaigns on the dangers of ethnic conflict and its attending problems on education, the future of their children, social infrastructure and business activities in general. C) all parties involved in the conflict collaborate with the National Peace Council (NPC) to ensure peaceful and lasting solution to the “never again conflict”. We also call on all the parties involve to respect laws of the country by accepting the recommendations on the issue by NPC.

. D) all political parties kindly stop politicising the issue but rather help find solutions to the conflict. This is what we, as students, need from our politicians. E) Students in the affected area put in their entire all in these difficult times to ensure a successful academic year. This is also an assurance that we are solidly behind them in all these hard times.

In another development, we wish to commend and also call on the government to speed up its intentions to extend the constitutionally mandated Free Compulsory and Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) to the Senior High Schools (SHS). We believe that it is indeed a thought in the right direction.

We therefore appeal to President John Agyekum Kufour to give credence to his intentions by starting the process of making Senior High Schools (SHS) free before leaving office. Such a move, we believe will be a lasting legacy for his administration and also ensuring that education becomes a right and not a privilege. Thank you.

Issued on 11th June, 2008

Sgd: Francis Appea President, NUGS University of Cape Coast Secretariat 020-8252301