Nana Okortor Kofi III (left) and Togbe Tsedze Atakora VII
THE VOLTA Regional Parliamentary Caucus made up National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of
Parliament (MPs) has appealed to the government to ensure that peace is immediately restored to Nkonya and Alavanyo in the Volta region.
Making a statement on behalf of the caucus on the renewed clashes between the people of Nkonya and Alavanyo in Parliament yesterday, the NDC MP for Afadzato South Joseph Amenowode, a former Volta Regional Minister, said the conflict dates back to 1923 and that since then
there had been violent clashes between the sides in 1983, 1990, 2003, 2004, 2012 and 2013.
He said the protracted conflict over land had robbed the people of the two communities of the much-needed development.
He said in 2005, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, with the support of some Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), started a peace process and brought the people of the two towns together.
“The chiefs of Nkonya and Alavanyo became close friends and exchanged visits and farm produce to indicate to their people that the war was over,” he said, adding that it was unfortunate that hostilities had commenced.
According to the Afadjato South MP, the government, United Nations Development Programme and the Catholic Diocese of Ho have spent resources to resolve the dispute. He said the prolongation of the conflict would deprive the government of the necessary resources to develop the area.
“We, the representatives of the people of the region in parliament, would want parliament as a whole to join us to appeal to the chiefs and people
of Nkonya and Alavanyo to stop the killings and return to the mediation table,” Mr Amenowode said Making a contribution to the statement, the Majority Leader, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor said some people are using ‘ethnic enterprise’ factor to fuel the conflict because they are benefitting from it.
It would not be surprising that these ethnic benefactors are supplying arms to those groups to kill themselves, Hon Kunbour stated.
He called for the identification and inclusion of those personalities in the peace process.
The Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul, for his part, said Nkonya and Alavanyo areas abound in huge tourism potentials and that the people of the two towns should think about the future of their children and smoke the peace pipe to enhance development in the area.
BY Thomas Fosu Jnr