GTZ organizes alternative conflict resolution workshop for Northern Chiefs

Tamale, August 12, GNA - Mr Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister has urged chiefs in the area to ensure the documentation of the lineage of their skins and land ownership to spare the Region of the numerous conflicts.

He said: "If and when these are written down in black and white, and in a very simple language, it would minimize the spate of litigation, which has often led to conflicts and loss of lives and property".

Mr Debrah was addressing a two-day workshop on: "Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)" for forty chiefs from the five traditional councils of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs in Tamale on Tuesday. The chiefs, who represent all the ethnic groupings in the region, would treat topics on: "Traditional authorities and the land tenure crisis - The potential for Alternative Dispute Resolution",

"Introduction to conflict, conflict assessment and management", and the "Introduction to mediation and customary arbitration".

The German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) is organizing the forum, which is co-ordinated by the Regional House of Chiefs. The workshop aims at educating the chiefs on alternative ways of resolving conflicts, which have engulfed the region.

The Minister attributed the outbreaks of violence and destruction in the region to the breakdown of traditional order, noting that most of the traditional councils in the major areas have virtually ceased to exist.

He said: "Even in the rare case where a traditional council is said to exist, the composition is faulty and unrepresentative and therefore no meaningful decision can be taken there".

Mr Debrah urged the chiefs to give proper training to the youth leaders whom they are nurturing to take up the mantle of leadership in future so that they would not grow up to inherit hatred, bitterness and acrimony.

"The future of the region would be doomed if we continue to use the youth as agents of destruction," he warned, saying, "it would be sad if the youth are encouraged to carry on the trail of mutual antagonism and suspicion".

He therefore, called on the chiefs to inculcate in the youth the virtues of love, charity, patriotism and respect for others irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds.

The Minister noted that the region is one of the most deprived in the country, with the highest cases of guinea worm infestation, yet it is the first in conflicts, as well as the lowest in illiteracy and girl-child education.

Mr Debrah called on the chiefs to work hard to help change these negative indicators by bringing peace, unity and understanding among the various ethnic groups in the region to enhance development.

The Yagbon Wura, Bawa Doshie, paramount chief of the Gonja Traditional Area and President of the Region House of Chiefs, noted that there is a direct linkage between the low level of development and the number and frequency of the conflicts in the region.

He said the lack of skilled personnel in conflict management to support the chieftaincy institution was one of the causes of the inability of most of them to resolve conflicts in the communities.

"Social change has caught up with us and we need to complement the traditional system with acceptable alternatives to meet the challenges of modernity",he said adding, "if this is done the various Regional Houses of Chiefs would be empowered to take pre-emptive measures to mitigate the effects of conflicts."

Miss Akyaa Afreh Arhin, Project Officer of GTZ said out of the 80,000 disputes pending before the Supreme Court, 85 per cent of them were land litigation cases.