Francis Ahovi, a security analysts and Executive Secretary of Global Security for Africa Research and Good Governance (GLOSARGG), believes that the right individuals with the necessary experience to resolve the longstanding Bawku conflict in the Upper East region are often excluded from the mediation process.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the conflict in light of President John Mahama\u2019s recent commitment to resolving the issue, Mr Ahovi commended the President for the initiative. However, he argued that the \u201csending a sheep to a china shop\u201d approach would not lead to a resolution.<\/p>\n
He explained that by the \u201csending a sheep to a china shop\u201d analogy, he meant that successive governments have failed to involve experienced security experts and the necessary stakeholders in addressing the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot keep adopting what I call the \u2018sending a sheep to a china shop\u2019 approach. It means that if a sheep or goat were placed in a Chinese shop, it wouldn\u2019t find any grass to graze on, because what\u2019s available are canned foods, noodles, and other Chinese foods. The animals are used to cassava leaves, corn, and things they are familiar with, and these things cannot be found in the China shop. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happening with the Bawku conflict. We are sending people without the requisite skills and strategies to solve the issue,\u201d he explained to press<\/p>\n
Mr Ahovi further stated that those typically involved in mediation efforts often possess popularity but lack competency. \u201cThey just have big names; we need people who are qualified and capable of doing the work to resolve the issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He argued that those who would be selected for the President\u2019s mediation efforts should be thoroughly vetted to ensure they have no personal interests in the area. \u201cDo the factions involved in solving the issue have any connection to the conflict? When we dig into the root causes, do these individuals have any political or historical ties to it?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n
The security analyst, a product of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, suggested that a \u201clocalized approach\u201d be adopted. \u201cThe people in the area must be sensitised in such a way that their awareness level increases, and they gain what I call self-consciousness, where they will understand the importance of human life,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Mr Ahovi also stressed that the approach used to resolve conflicts in Accra should not be applied to the Bawku crisis. \u201cWe cannot rely on the curriculum we use for people in Accra to resolve the Bawku conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Bawku conflict, which has spanned many years, has claimed many lives in the disputed areas. Despite numerous mediation efforts, clashes continue between the locals, resulting in property destruction, gunfire, and other unlawful acts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Francis Ahovi, a security analysts and Executive Secretary of Global Security for Africa Research and Good Governance (GLOSARGG), believes that the right individuals with the necessary experience to resolve the longstanding Bawku conflict in the Upper East region are often excluded from the mediation process. Speaking about the conflict in light of President John Mahama\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,386],"tags":[2525,3127],"class_list":["post-9688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-security","tag-bawku-conflict","tag-francis-ahovi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9690,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688\/revisions\/9690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}