Editorial: Kudos U/E Students

The Upper East Students Union of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale campus, has called for an end to the Bawku chieftaincy conflict that has claimed several lives and created a bad image for the people of the region. �Enough is enough, we must know that Bawku is not for us, but for the future generations,� the union stated at its inauguration in Tamale, on Wednesday. According to the students, they were worried about the situation in Bawku, because it portrays them as violent people, compared to their colleague students from other parts of the country. They have, therefore, called for an end to the conflict through interpersonal tolerance, to ensure peace and development in the area. The new union also appealed to government, to, without any further delay, fulfill its promise of finding a lasting solution to the Bawku conflict, to enable the area benefit from the Savanna Accelerated Development Agenda (SADA). The Chronicle is happy that students from the Upper East Region have seen the devastation being caused to human resource development in the area, and have therefore joined the chorus, by calling for an end to the conflict. As students, they are the future leaders of Bawku and its environs, by virtue of which they have the responsibility to ensure that peace returns to the traditional area. However, The Chronicle believes that just making �noise� in the media would not help in bringing the situation under control. During their vacation period, the students must also move to the conflict area, and hold door-to-door discussions with their fellow youth who are behind the violence, about the need for them to observe peace. Since the union comprises of both Kussasis and Mamprusi students, they must also organise sporting activities between the two factions to encourage them to fraternise, and to send positive signals to their brothers and sisters that they are all from one family, and there was therefore no need for them to fight. Dr. Robert Kuganab-lem, a Patron of the union, noted during the inauguration, that the problem in Bawku could be better solved, if the youth were involved to augment the efforts of the chiefs, because the latter were not behind the heinous crimes being committed in the area. The Chronicle has always maintained that the conflict in Bawku, and other parts of the northern regions, will scare away investors from the area. The people, therefore, have the duty to maintain the peace in the area, and to ensure the rapid development of the area.