The following are a few reasons for this It seem as a enduring heritage of the African (custodian of culture and tradition) Chiefs are closely linked to the people at the grassroots and understand their problem Preserve peace, order and stability in our society and adjudicate disputes. Settle disputes among the people (low level conflict resolution) Spear head development projects in their respective communities (a recent turn / development) They adjudicate numerous disputes (low-level conflict resolution) Spearhead development projects in their respective communities (a recent turn/ development).
Mouthpiece of the people, linking them with government (can arouse community solidarity). As the Asantehene once stated in BBC News interview and I quote “Governments will come and go but we are always here. We live with people, 70% are in rural areas- and they are with us”. This institution is practiced in a lot of African countries including Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa etc but how the institution is engaged in national politics differ from one country to another. More information can be sought from http://www,westafricareview. com.
Northern Ghana Conflict Though Ghana continues to be a relatively peaceful country in the African Continent, it has not been free from internal ethnic conflicts or isolated cases of human rights violations. The post independence era has witnessed a number of violent conflicts in many parts of Ghana occasioned by land and Chieftaincy disputes, religious disagreements between and within sects. Also the northern region has witnessed a number of ethnic conflicts mostly between the Kokomba minority group and the Dagombas, Gonjas and Nanumbas on the other hand.
Interestingly, these minority groups who are believed to be settlers from neighboring Togo have in most cases defeated the majority groups in conflicts/wars with the use of sophisticated AK47 assault guns and communication equipment. It is worth noting that the Kokombas are very hardworking, producing the bulk of yams from northern Ghana and thus are wealthy. Thus the conflicts between the Dagombas and the Kokombas which spanned over 1914’s to 1995 have been over the issue of land ownership and a sense of superiority of the minority Kokombas due to wealth.
http://www. ethnonet-africa. org/pubs/p95boaten. htm. These conflicts though were to some extent effectively managed, one cannot close discussion of them without mentioning the violence that erupted during those times. There were very cruel killing of children, women mostly pregnant women, old men and burning down of houses and sometimes entire villages. Dagbon Conflict The conflict that this paper seeks to discuss is one among people of only one particular ethnic group, the Dagombas.
This is the Dagbon conflict currently between two (2) gates of the same ethnic background. It has to do with succession to the Ya Na throne or what is called the Namship of Yendi. The Dagombas have their traditional seat in Yendi, a town in northern Ghana. Please refer to the Ghana map. Though Dagombas are scattered in towns like Tamale, Chereponi, Saboba etc the conflict started in Yendi after the murder of the late Ya-Na Andani II on March 27, 2002 over a disagreement on the celebration of the Bugum (Fire) Festival between the 2 gates.
Though this latter disagreement has been perceived by the greater majority of Ghanaians as the cause of the conflict, there are remote causes to this conflict. This has to do with internal disagreements between the 2 gates and even other royal clans about succession rules. This dates as far back as 1958, when the then Ya Na, Mionlana Andani, the father of the murdered chief appealed to the CPP government to intervene in the Yendi skin affairs. Since then, the Dagbon Chieftaincy divide assumed a political dimension even at the national.
Thus the governments that came to power would align itself to one side of the divide which did not auger well for the institution as a whole. http://www. ghanaweb,com The burial of the chief has been postponed indefinitely as each of the two factions claims the right to have a regent installed from their family immediately after the burial. Thus three years after the death of the chief, peace has still not been found and the burial has also not taken place. Various initiatives have been taken by government, NGOs/ Peacebuilding Organizations and Civil Society, yet peace seems to be a distant dream.
