Vice President of Imani Africa, Kofi Bentil has appealed to the government to adopt stringent measures to resolve the security challenges in Bawku.

According to him, the longer it takes to find solution to the tensed situation in the town, people might take the law into their own hands.

“We need to have the whole state security system take Bawku seriously, because they are citizens of Ghana and then do everything to make sure that lives are not lost in vain.

“If we do not do that, we will send a signal that when people lose their lives it does not matter and when we send those signals we are preparing ourselves for an explosion we cannot contain,” he said.

Mr Bentil was speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday regarding the different accounts on the alleged killing of residents by the military in Bawku central.

During the week, the MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga had vowed to pursue justice for seven of his constituents who he alleged have been killed by the military in the Constituency.

Subsequently, the military issued a letter to justify their action. They claimed that the soldiers engaged a group of armed men and neutralised six of them.

On the back of this, Mr Bentil wants the government to outline strategies to solve the problem before the natives feel they are not part of Ghana.

“All of us citizens should be very worried, because if people lose their lives in a state which has a government and security agencies and nothing serious seem to be done about it, consistently you would have a situation where people will give up and they will tend to defend themselves,” he said.

The Senior Vice President of Imani Ghana stressed that Ghana Armed Forces should review its approach to resolving the violence.

“We are getting to the point where I can imagine there are people living in Bawku who do not feel Ghanaian and they do not feel that the army is on their side and they do not feel that the government protects them, they do not feel that the army is there for their sake.

“God forbid if too many people in Bawku get that mindset, I do not think the people in Bawku are cowards or they are afraid of war per se,” he bemoaned.

The Bawku Municipality has been a hotspot for a number of years now due to recurrent Chieftaincy conflicts.