“I am not responsible for Bawku voilence” – Interior Minister

Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, has rejected accusations that he is responsible for last Sunday’s violence in Bawku.

He said the accusation the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mr Adamu Dramani made on radio stations in Ghana and in the United Kingdom, that his failure to act on information given him about the training of some people in guerrilla warfare at Nafkologo in the Bawku Municipality led to violence is not true. Mr Dramani had asked Mr Avoka to resign for failing to arrest those people.

Mr Avoka refuted the allegation when he addressed a mini-durbar of Chiefs, Security Personnel and Assembly Members of the Bawku West District at Zebilla on Wednesday.

“My conscience is clear, I have no hand in this recent violence or any of the recurrent conflicts in the past”, he emphasized, saying that since his appointment as the Minister of the Interior, he has had good relations with all the people of Bawku and has been in friendly contact with the Mamprusis.

According to Mr Avoka he has always done his best to promote peace, adding that he has been supporting the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee in various ways including, seeking a means of transport and logistics to help it carry out its duty of bringing peace to Bawku.

“We are committed to peace and would not take sides”, he said.

He noted that the right thing would be, for all people in politics to avoid using their positions to inflame passions as there is no need to play the blame game with malice since that would not help the situation.

He expressed regret that the recurrent conflict is gradually making Bawku, the once vibrant rich town, poor.

Source:GNA