Aide to President John Mills is calling for the security personnel to deal ruthlessly with people who foment trouble in the violence-prone Municipality of Bawku. Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye insists the practice of “peace seeking” has proven unsuccessful and it is now time for peace to be enforced. Advocating for a state of emergency to be declared in the region, Nii Vanderpuiye said punishments must be exacted on people who have vowed to cause trouble there. Bawku in the Upper East Region has experienced protracted violence between the Kusasis and Mamprusis which has claimed dozens of innocent lives. One person was lynched and two others sustained serious gunshot wounds after a group of gunmen went on the rampage last week. Fearing reprisal attacks, Upper East Regional Minister Mark Wayongo called for a security red alert. Interior Minister, Martin Hamidu on the advice of the Regional Security Council declared a one week curfew which is expected to last from 4pm to 6am. Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye told Citi News on Monday the miscreants must now be treated with a heavy hand. They must be shown no mercy, he said, if the seeming endless conflict is to be resolved. The military came under heavy vitriolic attack late last year from human rights advocates after they (military) paraded two suspects naked through the Bawku Township. The suspects were alleged to have fired indiscriminately into the air. But Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye said the idea of human rights should be shelved, so that people who take the lives of others are dealt with severely. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana