A security analyst has proposed the relocation of the residents of a slum-like area at Agbogbloshie in Accra which has been the site of ethnic clashes over the years.
Wing Commander Patrick Nene Sogbodzor says if the settlers are relocated to different parts of the city, it would greatly reduce the influence of political, economic and ethnic factors that have incited the attacks and loss of lives.
He said although there are political influences in the clashes between the Konkombas and the Dagombas, the overriding influence has been ethnic and chieftaincy related.
“One has to go into history to find why there is no peace between them [Konkombas and Dagombas],” he said, tracing the perennial clashes to factional differences that have existed since the time of Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah.
Patrick Nene Sogbodzor spoke on current affairs programme, PM Express on the Joy News Channel on Multi TV.
Mr Sorgbodzor’s comments follow Tuesday’s bloody clashes between the two ethnic groups that claimed at least two lives and injured scores.
Details of the cause of the clash are sketchy, but eyewitnesses attribute it to an old political and ethnic rivalry between members of the two tribes.
Clashes in April 2015 between Dagombas and Zabarima traders also left four people including a police officer injured. A clash in November 2014 left two people dead.
Meanwhile, there is a heavy deployment of police and military personnel at the market area to forestall further clashes.
The Police are still looking the actual trigger of the latest clashes.
The security analyst is convinced relocation of the residents, who are predominantly yam traders at the Agbogbloshie market, or the total destruction of the slum area would bring peace.
He also cited poor intelligence gathering for by the police for yesterday’s clashes and called for adequate allocation resources to the security forces to enable them to quickly quell disagreements that degenerate into fatal clashes.
Watch the full programme in the video link below:
