The Chairperson of the special peace committee established to find a lasting solution to the long-running Bawku Chieftaincy dispute, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the government to firmly apply existing laws that acknowledge Zugraan Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II as the lawful Bawku Naba and paramount chief of the Kusasi Traditional Area.

This directive represents the committee’s conclusive and uncompromising advice to President John Dramani Mahama on the conflict between the Mamprusi and Kusasi groups a dispute that has resulted in numerous deaths and stalled development in Bawku.

The recommendations were formally submitted on Tuesday at the Jubilee House in Accra, bringing to an end the high-level mediation process initiated by the Presidency to address the decades-old violence between the two sides.

Presenting the report, the Asantehene based the committee’s final position on Ghana’s constitutional framework and the Supreme Court’s definitive rulings on the matter, rather than on negotiations or customary concessions.

The report reiterates the legal standing created under the Restoration of Status of Chiefs Law, 1983 (PNDCL 75) and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2003.

In his remarks to the President and government officials, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II emphasized that all traditional authorities are subject to the rule of law.

He specifically appealed to Naa Mahami Abdulai Sheriga, the Nayiri and overlord of Mamprugu, to respect the established legal position, following attempts in recent years to endorse an alternative claimant to the Bawku skin.

The committee’s findings place the onus on the government to take swift and decisive measures against any actions that undermine the legally recognised authority of Naba Azoka II, noting that strict enforcement is essential to breaking the recurring violence in the Upper East Region, which has claimed hundreds of lives since late 2021.