The Paramount Chief of Bawku Traditional Area, Naba Asigri Abugragu Azoka 11, and his elders have condemned acts by the Mamprusis in Bawku during the recent Damba Festival that was celebrated on March 20.
He said this in a statement read by his spokesman, Mr Thomas Abilla at Bawku.
Naba Asigri Abugragu Azoka said some of the exhibits put up by the Mamprusis during the celebration had come into his possession in the form of T-Shirts and video cassettes depicting crowds dancing and some outrageous speeches made by Alhaji Akarlifa, the leader of the Mamprusis.
He said the effigy and list of former chiefs of Bawku printed on the T- Shirts,naming them as the original Chiefs who had ruled Bawku, was a cause of provocation to the people of Bawku and could have led to violence.
The chief said there was a sudden increase in violent acts and occasional gun shots in Bawku and its environs resulting in some people getting injured.
Naba Asigri Abugragu Azoka said, "As Bawku Naba, I won my position through the legal process in 2003 at the Supreme Court as my late father did in 1957. I am fully accepted and respected by my chiefs and people throughout the Bawku Traditional Area and by all communities. The clandestine or backdoor manoeuvres to re-open or
ridicule the decision of the courts on the old Bawku chieftaincy dispute cannot succeed in reversing my position as Bawku Naba."
He said the Damba festival was celebrated by Dagombas, Walas and other ethnic groups in the northern regions and was meant to renew allegiance to the traditional leaders of the respective areas and that it was the chiefs who authorized the celebration of the festival.
Naba Asigri Abugragu Azoka said in the case of the Damba Festival in the Bawku Municipality, he was not informed about the celebration by the Mamprusis, neither was the Municipal Chief Executive informed.
He said it was the normal and expected practice for any group of people intending to celebrate a festival to inform the chief about it and also invite other leaders to the function, saying that he had always invited all the leaders and people of the ethnic groups in Bawku to the Samanpiid Festival of the Kusasis.
The Paramount chief said the T-shirts must be withdrawn for the sake of peace and appealed to his chiefs and people to be calm and law-abiding and give peace a chance for Bawku to develop since their common enemies are poverty, hunger,
illiteracy and disease.