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The Bolgatanga Traditional Council on Thursday issued stern warning to the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, to desist from further intruding in the already fragile peace in the Bolgatanga Traditional Area.

The Chiefs who described the Regional Minister as ‘disrespectful, careless and unaccommodating’, alleged that Mr Bukari blatantly refused to pay homage to the Paramount Chief of the Bolgatanga Traditional Area, Naba Awogya-Lebna Abilba IV, when he assumed office as head of the region, with the pretext that the Bolga Naba had not been gazetted.

The meeting which was chaired by the Acting President of the Bolgatanga Traditional Council, Naba Johnson Azebire Awuni, stated that as Traditional rulers in the area, they would not sit aloof and allow the Regional Minister to undermine their authority or cause communities to be at loggerheads without any expediency or break the chain of discipline by frivolously hiding his face and pushing to cause mayhem in the area.

“He equally said that there is no Bolgatanga Traditional Council because there is no recognised Paramountcy hence he will not pay homage to the Council, a way of sideling the Bolga Naba and the entire Bolga Traditional Council in general”

The Council claimed that having refused to visit the Paramount Chief who is head of the Council, the Minister was quick to pay homage to the Zuarungu Chief who was recently enskinned and also not gazetted with a big entourage just for purposes of undermining the authority of the Bolga Naba and the Council.

The Chiefs gave the warning at a Press conference in Bolgatanga where they enumerated several actions of the Minister which they said were breeding grounds for a future chaotic situation in the Bolgatanga Traditional Area.

The meeting came at the heels of piled up grievances that sections of the people in the region, especially those in the Bolgatanga area had heaped up against Mr Bukari who is barely about three months as the Regional Minister.

They questioned the rationale behind the Minister’s refusal to pay homage to the Bolga Naba, when the Regional House of Chiefs had declared him the true heir of the Bolga skin and the Bolga Naba as Naba Awogya-Lebna Abilba IV.
The Chiefs further stated that without any provocation from the people or explanation to the people, Mr Bukari moved the location of an Airstrip; a major project earmarked for the region about 30 years ago and situated at Sumburungu suburb of Bolgatanga to Sherigu within the same Traditional Area, which has brought the two communities into loggerheads and for which if care is not taken could plunge the two communities.

According to Naba Awuni, the Minister who had little or no respect for the rule of law had to personally order the release of some people caught trying to burn down some houses in the last conflict in Bolga when the Military arrested and handed the culprits to the Police in the Municipality.

They said it took some concerned people to protest the action of the police where the offenders were re-arrested, detained and later granted proper police bail.

The Council indicated that the Paramount Chief of the Area, the natives and concerned citizens and residents in the Municipality had been following these developments with keen interest and have concluded that Mr Bukari was bent on pursuing some personal agenda at the detriment of the peaceful co-existence in the Bolga Traditional Area.

The Traditional Authorities called on the President, the Minister for the Interior, and the Security agencies to take these concerns seriously and call the Regional Minister to order for peace to prevail in the area.