Dagomba- Konkomba impasse: Bassare youth association attributes the bone of contention to the revised Dagbon Constitution

In the wake of tensions between Dagombas and Konkombas in the Northern Region, the Bassare Youth Association through a press release has attributed the cause of the confusions to the revised Dagbon Constitution which has included the land boundaries of Konkombas and Basares to Dagbon lands.

According to the Bassare Youth, the concerns of both Konkombas and they Basares on the need to reconsider the land demarcations in the drafted Dagbon Constitution has been ignored. In the drafted Dagbon Constitution, Dagombas extended their territories to the Republic of Togo thereby adding Konkombas and Basare lands covering Saboba and Tatale Sanguli Districts and other important areas of the two tribes.

Bassare Youth in their press release however, suggests to the Dagomba and Konkomba youth to keep calm and avoid usage of threats and hate speeches in their dealings. They suggests the use of win-win method to amicably resolve their differences since they stand to gain nothing should they engaged conflict.

The youth group also proposes open and inclusive discussions among the affected youth groups to iron out their differences without any infringement on the rights and interests all tribes.

In other to tackle these issues head on, the Bassare Youth Association made the following recommendations:

The Dagbon Revised Constitution should follow the modern trends and avoid subordinating any ethnic group to their Constitution which goes against Fundamental Human Rights. They should recognize address the differences in culture, customs, traditions and practices of every tribe.

Secondly, the need to redefine the territorial boundaries of Dagbon lands to cover only Dagomba traditional communities in order to respect the fundamental Human Rights of the concerned tribes in the area.

Also, the revised Dagbon Constitution should not be enforced until the concerns of all parties are addressed.

Furthermore, government through the ministries of Chieftaincy affairs, Interior and National Security should collaborate with the National House of Chiefs to establish independent committee to foster dialogue between all the representatives of the concerned tribes to openly express themselves for mutual acceptance.