The Member of Parliament for Guan Constituency, Fred Agbenyo, has called on women in areas affected by the ongoing tribal conflict in Bawku to take inspiration from the Greek play “Lysistrata” and declare a sex strike.

According to the legislator, such action has become necessary owing to the failure of the men involved in the violent conflict to see the need to foster peaceful coexistence instead of actively participating in the fight.

“For the men who have declared themselves warlords and insist on fighting, I don’t get it. I think on this platform, I have said it before; it may be an unpopular position, and those who will vilify me have already done so, but it has happened before. I read a Greek play, Lysistrata, and the men would all the time go about fighting wars, and one day a woman got up and said, ‘You know what?’ She called all the women and said they should embark on a sex strike. If their husbands were not going to stop the wars and return home so they could enjoy their family life, they should also advise themselves,” he stated.

He noted that the decision by the women of ancient Greece yielded the needed results, as their men were compelled to abandon fighting and return home.

“It was a solution; all the men returned home, and that was the end of all the wars and all the confusion,” he stated.

He further suggested that the situation in Bawku may have reached a point where the state may have to consider evacuating women and children in the area to leave the men to their fate if they do not appreciate the need to end the conflict.

“Because, what is happening is very disgusting. As we speak now, the situation has extended all the way from Upper East – Bawku, to Kumasi. These tribes are all over Ghana. They work together, they eat together, and do everything together. Now that it has happened in Kumasi, where next? Are they not in Accra? Are they not in Ho? Are they not in Takoradi?

“So, what is happening up there is what is spilling over down here. If we do not take care, it will come and swallow us up,” he stated.

He pointed to the current situation within the sub-region, warning that it creates fertile ground for insurgents to infiltrate the country.

The Bawku conflict, a decades-long ethnic dispute between the Kusasi and Mamprusi in the Upper East Region, has seen recent escalations driven by a chieftaincy dispute over traditional authority.

The conflict intensified in 2021, with over 260 deaths reported since.

In April 2025, violence flared when youth from one faction blocked market access, leading to police clashes, one death, and others injured.

In July 2025, attacks on schools in Bawku and Nalerigu claimed the lives of three students, prompting school evacuations, a tightened curfew, and a shift to peace enforcement by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).



GA/VPO