News

Ex-Minister blames J.J Rawlings, Mills for Dagbon stalemate
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, Jan 21, Ghanadot - A minister of state in the Kufuor administration says the Dagbon crisis has remained an albatross on the country’s neck due to the unnecessary politicization of the issue.

Nana Obiri Boahene says the politicization of the crisis championed by ex-president J.J. Rawlings and President J.E.A. Mills serves no purpose at all in building bridges between the two feuding factions- the Abudus and Andanis.

His condemnation comes just days after the Andani faction involved in the crisis petitioned President Mills to find the Killers of the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani II who was killed along with a number of his elders in a bloody clash with the Abudus in March 2002.

This led to the setting up of the Wuako Commission by the then President, John Agyekum Kufuor to investigate the causes of the clashes and to punish perpetrators. The president also constituted a three-member arbitration team of eminent chiefs led by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and two other enviable chiefs to find an amicable solution to the crisis.

The arbitration team is yet to conclude its mediation, but the Wuako Commission presented its report recommending the prosecution of two persons, Idana and Gyanafo. The two were however acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court.

The NDC then in opposition accused the government of covering up and doing very little to bring the perpetrators to book.

In the heat of the 2008 General Elections the NDC made it a campaign issue and promised to bring the perpetrators to book if given the mandate to rule.

13 months after assuming office, the Andani faction is not impressed with efforts by the government to get to the bottom of the conflict and subsequently petitioned the president, John Mills to fulfill its campaign pledge and bring the perpetrators of the murders to book.

Nana Obiri Boahene indicated that the government has been unable to find the perpetrators due to the politicization of the issue.

Accusing former president Rawlings and President John Mills for their roles in the politicization, Nana Boahene said it is only the “uninformed” that will make it a political issue.

Referring to the Wuako Commission, Nana Boahene who was also counsel for the Abudu faction said the NPP made every attempt to get to the bottom of the crisis, saying the two acquitted persons were set free not by the NPP but by a competent court of jurisdiction.

He noted that the Andani faction has every moral right to demand justice, saying the issues “ought not to have been a campaign issue”.

Ghanadot