Development Implications of Chieftaincy Conflicts in Bawku Traditional Area, Ghana

Abstract

Several decrees and laws by the new nationalist government have disrupted the customary processes of selecting chiefs from the original family lineage hence contributing to chieftaincy conflicts in Ghana today. This study explores the wide range of development implications of the protracted chieftaincy conflicts between Kusasis and Mamprusis in the Bawku Traditional Area. The study employed systematic sampling techniques to select 200 householders in five spatial locations in the Bawku Traditional Area which have had significant impacts on the conflicts. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, Belim Wusa Development Agency, and the Police were selected for in-depth face-to-face interviews to affirm the quantitative data. The Bawku conflict has created social mistrust and fear, economic, physical insecurity, and infrastructural destructions with undesirable consequences on socio-economic development. This has created a pang of severe hunger in Bawku and its environs. This can affect the realization of the sustainable development agenda. The study recommended that the Ghana government through the National Peace Council should embark on intensive media campaigns on the development implications of the conflicts in the Bawku Traditional Area. Besides, the Bawku East District Assembly should create employment opportunities for the youth and assist the victims to overcome the cost incurred on them through the conflict.