Dagomba-Konkomba tensions: Dagbon youth call for dismissal of the Minister of Defense

Correspondence from Northern Region

The Dagbon Youth Association (DAYA) has called on president Akufo-Addo to sack the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul over his alleged role in the rising tensions between Konkombas and Dagombas.

The association claims Nitiwul, a Konkomba and Member of Parliament for Bimbilla’s continuous stay in office as defense minister is emboldening his tribesmen to cause security issues in the Northern Region.

“We believe that the continuous stay of the Defense Minister, Hon. Nitiwul, at the Defense Ministry is the biggest threat to peace in the northern region.

"The President should therefore reshuffle him since his presence there is emboldening the Konkombas to create security problems,” Adam Baba Issifu, the National President of DAYA said while addressing a news conference in Tamale.

The news conference comes in the wake of rising tensions between Konkombas and
Dagombas. The tensions sparked when one Magal Kuunboln while speaking on an Accra-based TV station claimed Dagombas were in possession of some Konkomba lands and must be made to release such lands back to the Konkombas who he claimed were the original owners of those lands.

His comments sparked outrage on both traditional and social media with the exchange of strong words amongst the two tribes. The DAYA president called for the immediate arrest of Kuunboln for allegedly preparing the grounds for inter-ethnic conflict between the two tribes.

“We wish to call for the immediate arrest of Magal Kuunboln and those behind the Nkpakpaando Aabomukl anonymous press release for preparing the grounds for inter-ethnic conflict between the Konkombas and the Dagbamba,” he said.

Baba entreated Dagbamba, especially the Dagbon youth to desist from releasing rejoinders of similar messages as security are working to bring the warmongers to book.

He said the common enemies of the Konkombas and Dagombas were poverty and underdevelopment, hence the need for collaboration to fight the two.

“We believe that our collective effort as a people should rather be directed at fighting poverty and underdevelopment than fighting one another. Dagbon is poised for accelerated economic and social growth, and no one can stand in our way. All that we do as the youth in Dagbon is to help stakeholders and duty bearers create a conducive environment to attract investors to our area,” Baba noted.

The National Peace Council, Regional Security Council and the traditional authorities have been working in the past days to defuse the tensions among the two ethnic groups. However, many fear the stakeholders are not doing enough.

Andani Alhassan, a resident of Tamale recalled how similar threats issued prior to the 1994 Dagomba-Konkomba where not taken serious until the war broke out.

He told GhanaWeb that such precedence had given cause for many residents to not trust the state security apparatus to douse the tensions.

“Before the 1994 War, we saw these same signs were people were beating war drums and absolutely nothing was done. I remember anytime it seemed to be getting intense, the Ya Naa would call all the Konkomba chiefs and they would give him the assurance that nothing of the sought would happen, yet it did.

"We lost of mothers and fathers, our friends, brothers and sisters. So we have prepared ourselves because we don’t trust the state security,” he angrily said.

The 1994 Dagomba-Konkomba war is said to have claimed close to 2,000 lives.