The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee worried about the intensifying conflict in Bawku, describing it as a humanitarian and national security emergency.

Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, cautioned that the growing use of sophisticated weapons in the conflict zone signals a dangerous escalation that could spiral beyond control if not addressed immediately.

“The death toll is rising. People are living in fear. Children can’t go to school. Essential services are grinding to a halt—teachers, doctors, and nurses are refusing postings to Bawku. It’s a full-blown humanitarian crisis,” he said.

“What the Minority is calling for is calm. First, we extend our condolences to the bereaved families, sympathies to the injured, and to those who have lost property.

"But more importantly, we say Bawku deserves peace, and for that to happen, all feuding factions must exercise absolute restraint.”

While the Bawku conflict has long been rooted in ethnic tensions, Rev. Ntim Fordjour warned that its current trajectory is far more alarming.

“There’s a new and very worrying dimension, some attacks are no longer just between the feuding factions. We’re beginning to see a standoff between civilians and the security forces. That is dangerous,” he stated.

“If the conflict morphs into clashes between the security services and the very citizens they are deployed to protect, then we are heading into very dark territory.”

But perhaps the most troubling revelation from the Ranking Member was his description of the scale and sophistication of weaponry being used in the conflict.

“You look at the kind of weapons that our people, our brothers and sisters, have access to in the conflict zone, and it is really troubling,” he said.

“It is so dangerous. It is part of the reason why there is even that confidence to engage the police or the military in direct confrontation. Wherever those weapons are coming from, the government must take urgent steps to stem the flow.”

Rev. Fordjour called for an immediate and coordinated crackdown on the source of these weapons.

“This is no longer about machetes or homemade rifles. We’re talking about high-grade military-style arms being used in a domestic conflict.

"The presence of such weaponry emboldens the factions and makes peacekeeping incredibly difficult for security forces on the ground.”

Asked what specific actions government should take that it hasn’t already, the MP made a passionate appeal for political unity and a nonpartisan approach.

“One of the first things government must do is to depoliticise this conflict. Every political actor must remove the undertones and underpinnings of politics from this. This is not the time for political point scoring,” he said.

He decried the recent trend of making political capital out of the conflict.

“We’ve heard the dangerous rhetoric, comments like ‘when a certain party is in power, Bawku is peaceful; when another is in power, the conflict escalates.’ This kind of narrative only serves to inflame tensions. We need to rise above it.”

Rev. Fordjour threw his support behind the Otumfuo-led mediation process, calling it the right step to address the traditional root of the conflict.

But he insisted that without immediate action to disarm factions and cut off access to weapons, no peace initiative would succeed.

“We are supporting the government in this. This is a nationalistic effort. But the government must step up more. We cannot pretend that this is business as usual.

"The kind of arms being used in Bawku right now are not the kind you find in regular criminal activity. This is organised, this is dangerous, and it must be dealt with now.”