In order to restore peace, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, President John Dramani Mahama, directed the army to move into peace enforcement in Bawku and its surrounding areas to ensure that peace is restored.
He says the peace enforcement means the army will be a bit more robust with criminals in the area who are fomenting trouble.
Addressing the Gonja overlord and his subjects at the seat of government in Accra on Tuesday, July 29, Mahama said: “We can’t accept the current situation where students are shot and killed, we can’t accept the situation where teachers and students have all run away from Bawku because they are afraid for their lives.
“We have given the mediation effort to Otumfuo, and he has briefed me constantly on the progress that he has been making, we are almost there. So the current fighting and killings can only be done by people who want to derail the mediation efforts. Let us give peace a chance, but as the army has announced, I have directed the army to move from peacekeeping to peace enforcement, which means they are going to be a bit more robust with anybody who is involved in criminality.
“Let us give peace a chance, not only in Bawku but in Nkwanta and all the other places where we are currently suffering conflict.”
Prior to his comments, the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, had said that peace would be restored in Bawku and its surrounding areas. Dr Omane Boamah revealed that the government is taking significant steps to retool the Ghana Armed Forces, ensuring internal peace and security everywhere and safeguarding Ghana’s territories.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Lawrence Kwaku Gbetanu, has stated that soldiers who have been deployed to Bawku in the Upper East Region to restore peace have so far demonstrated professionalism.
He assured the officers that all the resources and assistance required for them to execute their mandate would be provided.
Addressing the troops in Bawku on Tuesday, July 29, he said, “When I said we should return to our families, some young ones corrected me to say that we should return to our loved ones.
“So, finish this work and let us return to our loved ones. Well done for a good job you have done today, professionally executed. Let us continue in that manner, and at the end, we shall prevail and restore law and order over here and bring sanity to the place. So I wish all of us very well. We are in this together .”
Source: GBC Online