The National President of the Konkomba Youth Association, Jawol Bisunna Titus, has blamed some chiefs in the Mamprugu traditional area for the repeated chieftaincy and land conflicts in the northern and northeast regions.

According to the youth president, the chiefs are engaged in fraudulent practices of selling chieftaincy titles to undeserving individuals, including non-royals, a situation he added leading to the multiple and multiplying communal unrest across the northeast region.

Jawol Titus described the alleged situation as unacceptable, adding that the leadership of the Konkomba Youth Association (KOYA) was seriously discussing the matter and measures to resist and bring an end to the practices.

The KOYA President was speaking at the annual mini Konkomba youth convention at Teema in the Yunyoo Nasuan districts, where several Konkomba communities are clashing after disagreements over land and chieftaincy.

“We [our constitution says] don’t have an overlord in Ghana. There are some chiefs in the Mamprugu area, sometimes my father, Nayiri is unaware, and they would go and sell chieftaincy and collect money, putting two or three chiefs in one community, and causing these conflicts”, he stated.

The president also commented on the growing feeling of neglect and lack of capital state investment in the Konkomba territory across the region. Drawing a nexus between the lack of development and the recurring violence in the area, the KOYA president called on the government to pay attention to the numerous socioeconomic plights of his people.

“We are sure that the issues that cause conflict among our people are chieftaincy and land, yet these issues are being handled by our brothers who don’t understand our customs and cultures. We also appealed to authority to bring some development to the doorstep of our people”.

The annual convention brought together several members and clan heads of the Konkomba community, including those far-flung communities. Also present were national and regional politicians as well as national executives of the Konkomba Youth Association.

The North East Regional Coordinator of the Association, Nigarim Charles, said the purpose of the meeting was part of efforts to promote and strengthen inter and intra-tribal and communal peace and harmony. He expressed strong gratitude to those who supported the organization and execution of the programme.

In the North East Region, many parts of the Konkomba territory, located in the northeasternmost tip of the region, are embroiled in severe turmoil as a result of inter and intra-tribal disagreements mostly over land and chieftaincy. There are currently about three active conflicts and over 10 relaxed ones among and within Konkomba communities in the Chereponi, Yunyoo – Nasuan, and Bunkprugu – Nakpanduri districts.

The perennial violence coupled with chronic State neglect has degraded the Konkomba territory to unviable habitation with increasingly diminishing sources of livelihood.

The violence has also continued to impoverish the population and rattled the State treasury, as resources for human and infrastructure development are diverted to peace missions.

The KOYA regional Coordinator further stated that despite the challenging environment, the Association has recorded a significant number of successful interventions and prevented armed confrontations across the region and beyond.

“So far so good, I [Regional Coordinator] have been able to coordinate a lot of activities with regard to the Gbungbandi incident”, the Coordinator stated, further disclosing that, “we carry out a sensitization campaign in Gushegu. We asked them to embrace permanent peace for the needed development”.

He continued, “We encouraged and taught them to always resort to dialogue and not resort to violence anytime they have disagreements. Ghana is going forward and not backward and so we as people must also change our harmful ways before development can come to us.