I have just learnt from a TV3 news item on the 12:00 noon (14 September 2025) bulletin of the unfortunate clash between some irate youth and Immigration officers stationed at the Hamile Border.

This incident was reportedly (also locally and reliably verified) sparked by the arrest of an unidentified, suspected, criminal Ghanaian woman by some unidentified people from the Burkina Faso side of the Border with an unregistered, unfamiliar vehicle (on the night of 13 September 2025) that was apparently facilitated by the Immigration Officer-in-Charge of Ghana.

His pick-up vehicle is said to have been burnt down and his mobile phone shop vandalised, among other destroyed items. It also registered one sad death of an onlooker.

Questions baffling residents are:

1. Why was a vehicle allowed to cross the Hamile border after the mandatory restricted time of 6:00 pm?

2. Were the Burkina pursuers security agents?

3. Has such a case ever been reported to the appropriate and designated police stations on either side of the border towns and what action has been taken?

4. Any police Intel or Interpol involvement?

5. Was there any community engagement?

6. Can our borders be said to be safe?

7. What are the implications for Ghana-Burkina Faso relations now and onwards?

8. For how long shall the security-residents tensions linger on even after the loss of a policeman who had ironed and maimed, with burning heat, an indigenous budding gentleman in the 80s and an immigration officer who met his untimely death under yet-to-be explained circumstances in a not so distant past?

Be it as it may, the security and peace of Hamile should be immediately restored to avoid any escalation.

I urge the youth to refrain from taking the law into their own hands, bearing in mind that any destruction of property only aggravates our already impoverished town and district. It also risks lending the slimmest excuse to anyone to stall developmental projects aimed at unearthing the national and human resources of Hamile and its usually peace-loving people.

The Immigration should be mindful of its core mandate to genuinely secure our borders and our people. The recent case appears to be scratching the wounds and tensions leading to the death of another cherished life, one too many and needless.

I highly commend the Lambussie District Assembly Presiding Member, Mohammed Abdul Moomen; Chief Executive, Naawulle Ireneous Bassingbie; and some well-meaning community leaders, among others, for their swift move to quell the situation.

We cannot afford to join the rather volatile existing, simmering, and brewing conflicts, some bloody, rearing their ugly heads across almost all the sixteen (16) regions in Ghana - Upper East, Upper West, North East, Northern, Savanna, Bono, Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra, and Oti covering chieftaincy, land, ethnic/tribal, air (helicopter crash) and media ( MultiChoice/DSTV and Hate speech).

Again, apart from those in schools and the galamsey (illegal mining) areas, conflicts involving sister border or near-border towns of Bawku in the Upper East, near Togo and the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District in the Savanna, which have displaced over thirteen thousand (13,000) people to neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire, are very troubling.

Are conflicts engulfing the linguistic Island of Ghana with Burkina to the North, Togo to the East, and Côte d'Ivoire to the West? The only route to escape is the South, which, unfortunately, is the sea.

We need to show the way, and in time.

We stand by you all to lend our support to maintain peace and order now

There is so much to lose if conflict perpetuates, not forgetting the sporadic tribal ones in our own beloved Lambussie District.

Hamile, Ghana, is located in the Lambussie District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. It is about the last town on the extreme North-Western end of Ghana, bordered to the North by Burkina Faso and the West almost by Côte d'Ivoire and has a population of almost three thousand, one hundred and ninety (3,190), according to some 2021 statistics. Its twin town, Hamélé, can be found northwards into the Burkina Faso side.

Both sides are mainly inhabited by the Dagara, Sisaala, Mossi, and Waala, with about seventeen (17) languages widely and minimally spoken there including English, French, Hausa, and Arabic.

The international road from Accra (Tema Port) runs through Kumasi, Techiman, Wenchi, and Bole-Bamboi. Wa, Kaleo, Nadawli (either through Babile-Lawra to the West or Jirapa to the East), Nandom, then to Hamile (Border). From here, it crosses into North-East Ouagadougou, the political capital of Burkina Faso and North-West to the rich business, economic, and commercial heart of Burkina Faso, Bobo Dioulasso, which is a stone's throw from Abidjan. Capital of Côte d’Ivoire.

This 663-km trunk road is comparatively much shorter, less expensive, less strenuous, and more economically viable, especially to Bobo, which is the economic hub of Burkina and is equally near the booming bustling Ivorian capital. Abidjan is more than any other thoroughfare from Ghana.

It is arguably the economic hub of the Upper West, especially the Lambussie District and can boast of a huge tourism potential. It has a rare geographical landscape - a flat hill plateau and a tall Sisaala Siiso (Hill) by Happa and a five (5)-kilometre tunnel spreading through the flat hill from Hamile South-Eastwards to Dahile.

There is no doubting its being a preferred destination, given its touristic viability in linguistic plurality; educational, historical, traditional, and cultural heritage, as well as the geographical exploits into the ecosystem.

Hamile could roughly be described as an island surrounded by a river pathway spanning from the East (Gyirgangn) near Happa towards Beyedergangn (by Langle in Burkina Faso), turning South-Westwards back through Lekuu Yir to join the mystical stream called Taali Bog lying under the entrance to the 5-kilometre tunnel to the East.

The near-invisible stream with a tiny opening is craftily and naturally covered by overgrown trees and huge rocks that offer a friendly, soothing, and breezy shade to the passerby and water fetcher.

In the age-old days of drought, the slowly trickling but never drying little and narrow stream once served as the last resort for water to the entire population.

As for the tunnel, it once served as a hiding place, abode and escape route for the inhabitants during the tyrannical slave raids of Samory and Babatu and their cohorts and local accomplices who voluptuously ransacked the area to catch slaves and sell out.

After the abolition of the slave trade, it eventually became an educational tour path for pupils/students and visitors of old from various schools and institutions, but has, for some time now, been abandoned.

Dr Sebastian Koug Bemile and Yours Sincerely Bemile, in the company of others, visited the site a few years ago, where we encountered a dark, slender gentleman lying and resting on a rock near the entrance to the tunnel. He confirmed knowing us very well, as our home, house, and parents/family. We had very lively and lovely discussions as to the tourism potential of the place and the feasible development site. We then took pictures and videos for memory, and we all engaged to follow up.

Upon arriving home, we tried to view our discoveries and even photos of ourselves, but to our awe, found ... nothing. Alas!

We commit to pursuing the dream by using all traditional, legal, legitimate, and practical means to uplift the image of and showcase the District.

Abeit, Hamile is a millet straw roof, and we should tread on it wisely and cautiously. Like the lion, it only howls or roars when its life and inhabitants are threatened or in danger. History abounds in this.

The people of Hamile/Hamélé, i.e of both sides, unequivocally refuse to fall to unwarranted provocations and divisive temptations as they are umbilically linked; inextricably related; and socially and culturally united people, but will resolutely advocate resilience.

We unequivocally abhor and condemn all shades of retrogression!

Long Live Hamile!
Long Live Lambussie District!