kriskotei

what makes a man raise a cutlass to chop a fellow human to pieces just because there is a diverse opinion on an issue?

A word to the wise ain’t necessary, it’s the stupid ones who need the advice. —Bill Cosby

I was once listening to a news bulletin on one of the local FM stations, and the newscaster was trying to let us understand a situation in Iran in which a suicide bomber had managed to blow-up himself, killing other dozens.

Permit me to do a literal translation. “You all know that a day does not pass without the people of Iran hearing the sound of bomb. A day without the sound of a bomb makes them feel like they are living in a different country.”

I laughed over it and said to my self that, these guys always try to make a gag over serious situations, especially where precious lives have been lost through some senseless means.

But later on I thought over the news and came to the conclusion that bombings in that part of the world is no more news, because it has become part and parcel of them.

Ghanaians woke up to the news that the people of northern part of Ghana are at it again, this time, six precious lives were lost. Like the situation in the Middle East, I said this is no news.

My brothers and sisters in the upper part of Ghana have been at it since 1980 (Konkombas against Nanumbas) and in 1994 when it was rumoured that they are fighting over a guinea fowl in a market, it generated what we termed: the Guinea Fowl War (between the Konkombas on one hand and Nanumbas, Dagombas and Gonjas on the other).

The most recent of these clashes were those between the Andanis and the Abudus at Yendi in 2002 in which the head of a chief was cut off.

Come to think of it, what makes a man raise a cutlass to chop a fellow human to pieces just because there is a diverse opinion on an issue?

Reports monitored from various radio stations indicate that yesterday’s disturbances arose when armed robbers allegedly killed an Opel Kadet taxi driver and injured the other occupants. Since the victims are from one tribe, then it is the other rival tribe that has committed the heinous attack.

At least, 500,000 people were killed between April and July 1994 when Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda one day decided not to live with each other again. The little I read and watched from the Internet, documentaries, movies (Hotel Rwanda and Sometime In April) sent chills down my spine and I only pray that we never experience any of these in Ghana.

But events in the northern part of Ghana make me wonder if they ever know the repercussions of their ‘stupidity’. It is said, “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind”.

There has been 24-hour curfew, bilateral talks by opinion leaders, chiefs, kings, presidents, etc, but after the (unwilling) handshake and photo sessions, they turn away and pick up their guns and machetes killing whoever crosses their path.

A friend said (jokingly), “if the Northerners will not stop the fight, that part of Ghana should be cut off and given to the people of Burkina Faso”. He burst out because he thought the people are not willing to give peace a chance and it is stalling development in the region. No proper drinking water, bad school structures (if there is any), guinea worm infections, bad roads, no better medical facilities just to mention a few, yet they never fight for improvement of any of those things that they need badly.

The wise need no advise!

Wise up!