The climax of the 2022 Samanpiid festival of chiefs and people of Bawku was celebrated successfully amidst heavy security deployment.
The 35th annual festival in the upper east region attracted MPs, ministers, ambassadors, chiefs, queens, and delegations from Burkina Faso and Togo, who dedicated their speeches calling for a truce for peace to return to the area.
The Samanpiid is an annual festival celebrated by the Kusasis in the Kusaug traditional area to show appreciation to the gods for a bumper harvest and a successful year.
The festival is also used to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Kusaug traditional area.
Unfortunately, the protracted chieftaincy conflict in the area is affecting the beauty and value of the festival.
This year’s event was possible largely due to the heavy deployment of security forces to the municipality.
The paramount chief of the Kusaug traditional area, Zugraan Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, noted ensuring and sustaining peace in the area is a collective task.
the member of parliament for the Zebilla and the dean of the Kusaug caucus in parliament, Cletus Apul Avoka, commended the military peacekeeping deployment to Bawku but urged them to arrest alleged suspect instead of shooting at them.
chairman of the Samanpiid festival, Sampson Asaki Awingobit, appealed to the national chief imam to intervene in the conflict.
The minister for local government, decentralization and rural development, Daniel Botwe, appealed to the feuding factions in Bawku to lay down their arms.
Other speakers charged residents in the area to support the peace process for Bawku to help restore development in the area.
By Peter Quao Adattor
