The Paramount Chief of Bunkpurugu, Alhaji Abuba Nasimong has attributed the protracted chieftaincy crisis in his traditional area to the delay in adjudicating the case in court. The conflict has so far claimed 13 lives.
According to the chief, the case has been pending in court for nine years, since he was enskinned as the paramount chief of the Bunkpurugu Traditional Area by the Overlord of the Mamprugu Kingdom, Nayiri, Naa Bohugu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga.
He explained that eleven people drawn from the Jamong and Jafouk families contested for the skin but seven were shortlisted. And at the end of the process the wisdom of the Nayiri prevailed and he was chosen. However, his enskinment did not go down well with some members of the Jamong family, who are contesting it in court.
Some members of the Jamong family, he said, refused to pay homage to him and have been tormenting him since. The Bunkpurugu chief believes the speedy adjudication of the case, which is pending before the high court in Kumasi, will bring a lasting solution to the area within two weeks.
He told the acting Inspector General of Police( IGP) that an elderly person came to pay homage to him but was shot and killed in broad day light upon his return home.
Two events, the chief said, triggered the current clashes. One retired army officer based in Sunyani in the Brong -Ahafo Region recently held a meeting with some members of the Jamong faction, which was preceded by violence.
The second was the performance of a funeral rites by the Jamong family withoutrecourse to him. The Jamong family, however disputed allegations that they are disrespecting the paramount chief of Bunkpurugu.
According to them, some suspects believed to be perpetrators of the recent killing are walking freely in the Bunkpurugu township, which is angering the victims’ families.
The family said the conflict in the area can only be resolved, if it is left to the two families without the involvement of the Lo clan which they claim has joined the fight.
In 2014, the families were made to made to sign an undertaking in the presence of the then district chief executive with the understanding that should any of the sides break it, their leaders would be held responsible.
However, the families did not live up to their promises; they broke the pledge and engaged in the burning of each other’s houses on October 18th, 2014, after the whole Bunkpurugu township was plunged into a blackout.
