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ISLAM, POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT: NEGOTIATING THE
FUTURE OF DAGBON
A LECTURE DELIVERED BY
MUSTAPHA ABDUL-HAMID
LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION AND HUMAN VALUES
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST
CAPE COAST
DATE: 11TH APRIL, 2011.
VENUE: ALISA HOTEL, ACCRA.
TIME: 5:00pm
Part Four
Part
Five
Restorative justice is the only justice that can
restore lasting peace to the Dagbon people, and
especially so their dignity as a people. Following
the High Court ruling of 29th March, 2011, Nana
Akufo-Addo issued a statement on the matter. It is
instructive and I wish to quote portions of it to
buttress the point about restorative justice.
This is neither the time for jubilation nor
humiliation. We all have a duty to help the people
of Dagbon to stay on the course of lasting peace.
Let us see the current development as an opportunity
to promote reconciliation amongst all the people of
Dagbon, especially, between the Abudus and Andanis,
so that lasting peace can be restored to that
important area of our nation…in all humility, the
best way forward to seeking justice and
reconciliation is to find accommodation for opposing
views, forgiveness for old wrongs and by working
together to build for the collective, a better, more
fulfilling future.
I dare say that any other form of justice will
continue to deepen the wounds and the chasm between
these brothers. In fact many Ghanaians think that
Abudu-Andani refers to clans within the ethnic
group. No! Abudu-Andani is as I have pointed out
already, a reference to two brothers and their
supporters who are all Dagombas and vying for their
grandfather’s inheritance. The greatest honour that
Dagombas can do to the late Ya Na Yakubu Andani, is
to see him as someone who paid the ultimate price
and made the ultimate sacrifice, that peace and
reconciliation might reign forever in Dagbon. Since
we are talking about religion, may I give the
example of Christ, whose death and resurrection
symbolizes for the Christian, the ultimate triumph
of good over evil. We can use the death of the Ya Na
as a resurrecting principle that will see the
resurrection of the once great Dagbon kingdom. We
can use his death as an opportunity to restore the
prosperity of Dagbon that made it the cross road of
commerce five centuries ago.
I say to the Dagbon people; do not listen to those
who tell you that you ought to seek vengeance by all
means. Let us not compromise in the quest for peace,
reconciliation and development. We do not have to go
far but to learn from Ghana’s own recent experience.
The principle which led to the setting up of the
National Reconciliation Commission in January 2002
was restorative justice. The priority was to heal
wounds and bring closure to that painful chapter in
our nation’s history. The stability and growth of
Ghana’s Fourth Republic, which has become the model
of emulation for most of Africa, have been achieved
largely through the principles of restorative
justice and development in freedom. The Fourth
Republic is so far the most stable period in Ghana’s
political history and has brought about the longest
enduring period for social and economic growth. It
came after a long period of human right violations.
But, the nation was determined to turn a new corner;
this required some painful but necessary
compromises. But, we did it because we were
committed to it. I insist that we can achieve a
similar success for Dagbon.
Indeed forgiveness can be the most dignified and
enhanced form of justice, but that can only be
possible if we are constructive and dedicated to
focusing our minds and emotions on actions that
serve our collective interest.
The development deficit
Northern Ghana generally and Dagbon in particular
has always faced a development deficit. Way back in
1954, the northern elite came together to form a
party called the Northern People’s Party (NPP).
Among other things, the party sought to
fight for accelerated
developments on all fields for the northern
territories; to seek constitutional safeguards for
the people of the northern territories and these
were to include preservation of our traditions,
customs and regional autonomy to decide on all
development programmes and projects for the northern
territories; to ensure progress in the educational
programme of the north with the establishment of
secondary schools, training colleges, primary and
middle schools and facilities provided for
university education for northerners; to ensure
rapid economic and social progress in the north…
At that time nearly all the chiefs of Dagbon
supported the Northern Peoples Party. Indeed in
Dagbon the Northern Peoples Party was called “Na
Party”, meaning chief’s party. If we were to accept
the general thesis that the Yendi dispute has been
raging since 1948, it would mean that the people of
Dagbon have engaged their energies and minds in
dispute over succession for 63 years now. One can
only imagine the progress Dagbon would have made in
63 years if the people engaged their energies on the
objectives that the Northern Peoples Party set out
to achieve for the north when it was founded in
1954.
In 2008, I was on North Star radio in Tamale,
talking about the need for Dagomba people to come
together in unity in order to ensure development for
Dagbon. During call in, a caller told me bluntly “we
don’t want development; for us our priority is with
chieftaincy.”
Similarly, way back in 1969, a
political party campaigner in Dagbon told Ladouceur
that “apart from the chieftaincy question, I can’t
think of any other issues in Dagomba during the
election.” While Ladouceur’s interviewee cannot
think of any other issue in election in Dagbon,
except chieftaincy, and while my caller-in does not
want development, the development situation in
Dagbon remains dire. The reality is that Dagbon
cannot give hope to its teeming youth to win the
respect of others if it does not make the
socio-economic development of the area central to
its survival.
It is to answer these development challenges that
Nana Akufo-Addo proposed the establishment of the
Northern Development Authority to plan and oversee
the implementation of the plan for the rapid,
integrtaed development of the three regions of
northern Ghana. When he first mooted the idea, now
Vice President, John Mahama pooh-poohed the idea,
arguing that we could use $1billion dollars (which
is the amount Akufo-Addo was proposing put into the
fund over the first five years of its establishment)
to off-set Ghana Telecom’s debt for example. But on
Friday the 25th of July 2008, Akufo-Addo went ahead
to deliver a lecture at the Tamale Campus of the
University for Development Studies titled THE
TRANSFORMATION OF THE NORTH –AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE.
Then the NDC made an about turn and came up with
Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).
But whether they are committed to the principles on
which SADA was established is another matter. They
promised to inject an initial amount of 200 million
Ghana Cedis into the fund at its start and
subsequently, to put in 100 million cedis annually
for 20 years. In addition, they said they were going
to organize a donor conference on SADA to raise an
additional 200 million Ghana cedis for the fund. To
this day, they have only injected 25million Ghana
cedis. Even so, the Vice President directed that
five million Ghana cedis be taken from this to
rehabilitate victims of the recent floods in the
north. This is against the background that the
existence of the money is suspect. Now the President
has declared that all that may come to a standstill
until he has found the one whose finger on the
trigger allegedly killed the Ya Na. So while we are
still looking for the person who killed the Ya Na,
240 children die in Savelugu-Nanton, out of 1,000
live births. This far exceeds the national average
of 100 to 1,000 live births. 227 die in Yendi out of
1,000 live births and 208 die in Tolon-Kumbungu. In
Tamale, 50.8% of the population has never been to
school. In Gushegu-Karaga, 84.3%, in Zabzugu, 79.6%,
in Yendi, 73.7%, in Savelugu, 74.5% and in Tolon
79.9%. Over 72% of the people of Dagbon list their
occupation as farming, but we know that there is
virtually no serious agricultural activity going on.
This is what has led to the massive migration of the
youth to the south to become labour hands on cocoa
farms and head porters.
But permit me to quote from Akufo-Addo’s document to
buttress the point about pursuing a comprehensive
development agenda for Dagbon. Akufo-Addo states:
I believe strongly that we may seek lasting justice
for old disputes by not necessarily recounting our
steps in a complex effort to undo some of the old
ills afflicted on either side of any conflict.
Permit me, Chairperson, to submit in all humility
that the best way forward to seeking justice and
reconciliation is to find accommodation for opposing
views, forgiveness for old wrongs and by working
together to build for the collective a better, more
fulfilling future. It is worth stressing the point
that the rich Western nations that many of our
fellow citizens go to as their destination of choice
as emigrants have more than their fair share of
ancient stories of gross injustice inflicted by one
group on another. Yet, their determination to
modernise their societies and transform the lives of
their people usually succeed in pacifying old foes.
Even where advancement has not erased their memory,
the comfort of prosperity has helped them to take a
philosophical view of the circumstances that fed the
old conflicts. Therefore the development that I seek
will itself contribute to the peace that we need.
Akufo-Addo continues, “we have an emergency as a
nation regarding the development of the north…the
difference that exists today between the north and
the south is not a gap, it is a chasm. It is blight
on the honour of our nation that must shame and then
spur us all to action.” A chasm it is. Mfantsipim
School in Cape Coast was founded in 1876. Tamale
Secondary School was founded in 1957. We have a
deficit of 81 years to erase if not more,
considering other indicators of development.
The way forward
I have already shown that political solutions to the
Dagbon Chieftaincy conflict have failed, right from
pre-independence days to now. I have also shown that
the government of President Mills is not, and cannot
be an independent arbiter in the matter. In fact it
is not even pretending to be independent in the
matter. Indeed I have shown that the NDC is heavily
biased against one side of the conflict and has
proceeded to label that side as villains.
My thesis therefore is that the Dagomba people
themselves should realise that the best way out of
their problem is talking to each other in sincerity
and good faith. In 2003, when I wrote my M.Phil
thesis, I dedicated it to the people of Dagbon by
stating that “to the people of Dagbon, that
hopefully, they will make the Qur’an their arbiter.”
For a people, who profess Islam as their religion
and for a people who have a court Imam in every
chief’s palace, the value in Islam must count for
something. The Ulama in Dagbon ought to stand up and
be counted as true heirs of the Prophet Muhammad.
When the Aws and the Khazraj (two feuding clans in
Madina) of Madina were feuding, it took the
intervention of the Prophet Muhammad to make peace
between them. Subsequently, he drew up what has come
to be known as the Madinan Charter, that ensured
peaceful co-existence amongst the inhabitnats of
Madina.
Umar ibn Khattab, the second caliph of Islam was
stabbed to death. While dying, he prayed the Muslim
community never to revenge his death by killing the
one who stabbed him to death Abu Lulu’a. Can we
emulate this great example of Umar? Even so, I find
it puzzling that people who profess Islam as their
religion would draw swords against one another. Let
my Dagomba brethren be reminded, of Qur’an 4:92-93.
It states, “never should a believer kill a believer;
but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is
due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained
that he should free a believing slave, and pay
compensation to the deceased's family, unless they
remit it freely. If the deceased belonged to a
people at war with you, and he was a believer, the
freeing of a believing slave (Is enough). If he
belonged to a people with whom ye have treaty of
Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his
family, and a believing slave be freed. For those
who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a
fast for two months running: by way of repentance to
Alla. for Allah hath all knowledge and all wisdom.
If a man kills a believer intentionally, his
recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And
the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a
dreadful penalty is prepared for him.”
Amr Abdallah is a lecturer at the
University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica. He
conducted his doctoral research in Rwanda in 1999.
He had this to say about his experience.
While briefly in Rwanda, and for a few weeks in
Burundi, I encountered a sizeable population of
Muslims, who lived among majority of Christians. I
was curious about the connection to those people’s
ethnic and religious identities. I thought for a
while that, perhaps Muslims were made of ethnic
groups other than Hutus and Tutsis. I was quickly
corrected. Muslims too were mainly either Hutus or
Tutsis. This raised the question of how they handled
themselves during the ethnic war. The response I
received from Muslims in Rwanda and Burundi was that
because they were Muslims, they should not and could
not fight each other or fight others, because of
ethnic differences: Islam they said, prohibited
that…in order to validate this story, I asked if
they knew about that “phenomenon.” Everyone I
enquired from responded positively that it was true
that the Muslim population refrained from
participation in the war and that Muslim sections of
Kigali and Bujumbura were safe havens during the
war.
Yes, the Qur’an urges us to seek justice. “We have
sent aforetime, our messengers with clear signs and
sent down with them the Book and the Balance of
right and wrong that men may stand forth in
justice.” (Q:57:25) However the Qur’an assures that
we would not obtain justice if all we seek is to see
people in jail irrespective of the evidence and also
just because they are not of our blood. “O ye who
believe! Stand firmly for justice as witnesses to
Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents,
or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor.
For Allah can best protect both.” (Q:4:135) Is it
possible for an Abudu to come up and say that this
is the truth of what happened on 27th March 2002, if
it be against a fellow Abudu? Is it possible for an
Andani to testify that indeed Andanis were equally
culpable in the events of 27th March 2002? The
Qur’an further admonishes us, “O you who believe!
Stand out firmly for Allah as witnesses to fair
dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you
make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be
just: that is next to piety and fear Allah, for
Allah is well acquainted with all that you do.”
(Q:5:8) How can we profess to be Muslims, when we
subourn witnesses because of our hatred for others?
We may be determined to seek vengeance for whatever
wrongs that we perceive must have been done to us.
But whatever vengeance we seek, will it be enough to
assuage the hurt that we suffered? Or would we be
able to seek equal vengeance for whatever wrong we
perceive must have been done to us? Again the Qur’an
points the way. “The recompense for an injury is an
injury equal thereto (in degree): but if a person
forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due
from Allah: for Allah loves not those who do wrong.”
(Q:42:40)
Before I take my seat, let me appeal to the youth of
Dagbon. We cannot carry into the future, the baggage
of our ancestors and forebears. We are Muslims, at
least the majority of us. In Islam, there is no
concept of original sin, by which the fathers eat
the sour grapes and set the children’s teeth on
urge. We cannot spend that time feuding or feeding
on politicians’ ego. Let’s seek justice by all
means. At the same time, let’s seek peace and
reconciliation. After all, that is why we say,
Asalamu Alaikum!
Peace be unto you.
5/5
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