BIOMETRIC REGISTRATION will resume in Guborigu in the Arigu community of the Northern region, following talks between the Northern and Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and the leadership of Arigu and Guborigu.
Reports from the area indicate that registration officials were chased out of Guborigu by people from Arigu on the first day of the exercise, hence causing the people of Guborigu to miss three days of the exercise at the time of filing this report.
The chasing of the registration officers from Guborigu, triggered some misunderstanding between the people of Arigu and Guborigu. There was also some misunderstanding at Pwualugu which led to the burning of some 11 houses and many people also got injured.
On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, police at Pwualugu arrested four persons accused of inflicting cutlass wounds on a native of Guborigu, and through the intervention of the regional ministers from the Upper East and the Northern regions, the four were granted bail as the police continue investigations into the matter.
Facts from the Arigu community state that the people of Guborigu have been voting under the Talensi-Nabdam district in the Upper East region since 1992, whilst the people of Arigu and the remaining five sections there voted under West Mamprusi in the Northern region.
The spokesperson for the Arigu chief palace, Jacob Kanzoni Mbah said the community had been under the West Mamprusi district even before the creation of the Upper East and Upper West regions.
Their problems started when Hon. John Tia and the former Assemblyman for Pwualugu, Paul Abaa, allegedly managed to get the people of Guborigu to vote under the Talensi constituency.
He blamed the woes of the Arigu community on the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Talensi and his cohorts who are trying hard to get a hold of the community land at the Guborigu section for the Talensi-Nabdam district.
�The issue is not just the biometric registration; there has been a standing dispute over the ownership of Arigu community lands. We know there are plans to take the land from our Overlord, the Chief of Wulugu, for the Talensi people in the Upper East region. That is what we are fighting against, because if they succeed in getting the Guborigu people and their lands, then they will target another section, by the time we become aware, the whole of Arigu Community has been taken over by the Talensi people, that is the secret. We love them, we have always called them our brothers and sister, but the misunderstanding has come because our effort to resolve their ownership situation in a peaceful way has not yielded any positive result,� he said.
Meanwhile, the people of Guborigu are also blaming the NDC candidate for Walewale, King James Azortiba who they said came to the Guborigu registration center with police personnel to sack the Electoral Commission officials away which led to the violence. But the Arigu community leader has denied his involvement in the conflict, saying he only came to calm down tension, �that is why he went there with police personnel, to prevent a clash,� Mr. Kanzoni Mbah added.
Many households at the Guborigu section and Arigu will be hit by severe hunger from now till the next harvesting season, if no help comes from the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) or the Talensi-Nabdam or West Mamprusi District Assemblies.
Large quantities of millet, beans, groundnut and other foodstuff were burnt by the fire that burnt the store rooms in the affected houses.
The Upper East and Northern REGSECs have assured the Arigu community and all the sections including the Guborigu section of police protection.
Source: Ebo Bruce-Quansah/Daily Guide
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