The Yendi Peace Centre, a non-governmental organization in Yendi in the Northern Region, has met with victims of the recent chieftaincy crisis in Bimbilla in the Nanumba district of the Northern Region.
The Centre assured them of playing its role to ensure a lasting peaceful solution to the crisis in the area.
[contextly_sidebar id=”takAedg2wWjt0zeNYp6JFT5hcbaCklQm”]Speaking to Citi News, a leading member of the Yendi Peace Centre, who is also the Bishop of the Yendi diocese of the Catholic Church, Most Rev Vincent Boi-Nai, lamented that the violent attacks in the area has given Bimbilla a bad image.
He further called on the factions in the attacks to give peace a chance for the town’s progress.
“I agree with you, we cannot have peace when there is no justice, but when we are talking about justice, we have to be careful about the type of justice we are looking for. There is that type of justice we call retributive justice, in other words ‘tit for tat’ you do me, I do you, you strike me, I strike you. This approach to justice will not solve the problem facing us. It rather perpetuates the problems and leads to a spiral of violence.”
“Such approach to justice destroys unity among families, and does not foster peaceful cohesion among people. In short, it makes people live in fear because you never know when the other is going to strike.”
About eleven people were killed and 17 others were severely injured in a renewed chieftaincy dispute between two factions in Bimbilla in February 2017.
The Yendi Peace Center is trying its best to explore possible ways of bringing the two families together.
For his part, the Director of the Yendi Peace Center, Rev father Michael Cobb, observed that, victims of the clashes lost thousands of Ghana cedis as well as destruction of their homes and farms which served as their source of livelihood.
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By: Mohammed Aminu M. Alabira/citifmonline.com/Ghana