By: Samuel Ayammah, Doba-Kandiga; Upper East Region.
The Upper East Regional Police Command has retrieved two pump action guns and large volumes of ammunition at the Doba-Kandiga conflict area. Six residents, including two males and four females have been arrested.
GBC’s Upper East Regional Correspondent, Samuel Ayammah reports that the dispute between the people of Doba and Kandiga dates back to 2012. They have since been in court, litigating over the rightful owners of the land in the two communities.
In April 2020, a communal conflict ensued between the two communities when one side of the factions, the Kandiga Community dug a foundation at Akonkongo-Abempengo Electoral Area to facilitate the processes of constructing a Police Post and a Community-Based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) Compound. That did not go down well with the Chief and People of Doba who claimed that they were the rightful owners of the said land, where the projects were being constructed and wondered why the Kandiga people whom they described as settlers did not inform them.
This situation eventually resulted in gunshots leading to the death of a 78-year old man and burning of some houses and farms in the area, forcing the Regional Security Committee to impose a curfew. 31 persons were arrested and arraigned before the Bolgatanga High Court.
Also, on July 5, 2020, six persons were killed and 12 houses torched during a clash over a renewed land dispute between the people of Doba and Kandiga in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal and Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region. The renewed dispute left many people with degrees of injuries.
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Dr. Sayibu Pabi Gariba told journalists how the guns were retrieved, explaining that, ‘’intelligence was picked up that some people in the Kandiga area have been assembling arms and ammunition with the objective of attacking each other’’. This propelled a further investigation leading to the arrest of the suspects.
In May 2021, a committee led by Justice William Atuguba consulted the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC), the National and Upper East Regional Peace Councils, the Upper East Region Parliamentary Caucus, the Navrongo Municipal and Kassena Nankana West District Security Councils (NMUSEC and KNWDISEC), the Catholic Bishop of Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, the Mirigu-Naba, the Navro-Pio, the Akurugu and Andema families and the Chiefs and People of Doba and Kandiga to arrive at this consensus. The conclusion reached with all the interested parties was to end violence in all forms.
The Committee hence began to chart a path meant at working towards the restoration of permanent peaceful co-existence between the Doba and Kandiga communities.