By J.A. Sarbah
Four civilians dead — including a girl who had just completed her BECE. Not in a battlefield, not in a riot, but in their homes, felled by the bullets of a conflict stoked for votes and abandoned in power.
This is not ethnic unrest. This is state-enabled carnage, born of reckless campaign promises, ethnic incitement, and a presidency hiding behind silence.
And let the HANSARD read:
In the 2024 campaign, John Dramani Mahama mounted platforms across Bawku and blamed the conflict on Bawumia and the NPP. He promised the Kusasi people recognition as landlords. He vowed to affirm their chief, Zugran Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, as overlord. The pledge wasn’t casual — it was central to his political strategy in the region.
And it paid off.
Mahama and the NDC swept all six parliamentary seats in Kusaug. All fifteen in the Upper East. The margins were historic — and they were bought with words that have now turned to ash.
Because since taking office, Mahama has not delivered peace. He has delivered blood.
Under the previous administration, the conflict, though unresolved, was largely contained to Bawku Central. Under Mahama, it has metastasized — spilling into surrounding villages, collapsing what was left of social order, and forcing families to mourn children instead of sending them to school.
And where is the President?
Nowhere. Not in Bawku. Not on national television. Not in action. Just relaxing in Jubilee House with a sip— cloaked in reflective silence, pretending he didn’t make the promises the region now bleeds for.
And where is Mahama Ayariga, the sitting MP for Bawku Central and now Majority Leader in Parliament? Still in Accra. Distant. Invisible. Hiding from the very community that entrusted him with power.
And where is Dr. Omane Boamah, the Defence Minister? He is tweeting, titoking and posturing while gunfire echoes through the north and young lives are buried in shallow graves.
The military, under this government’s command, has gone further: they tore down the statue of Zugran Azoka II — the living symbol of Kusaug tradition and unity. That act was not a security operation. It was a calculated humiliation. A cultural assassination dressed in camouflage.
Reports now surface daily of military bias — escorts for one group, open aggression toward another. This is not the Republic at work. This is factionalism in fatigues.
Yes, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was tasked with mediation — months ago. But peace does not wait for optics. If the killings continue, mediation has failed. And if it has failed, leadership must answer.
But let Ghanaians ask the harder question: Why is the very man whose reckless pronouncements helped ignite this crisis — John Dramani Mahama — now crouching behind the robes of Otumfuo, seeking royal refuge from the very fire he lit? If his ambition was fierce enough to weaponize ethnicity for votes, why does he now flinch at the sound of the very gunfire his tongue helped unleash?
This is not governance. It is abdication. It is betrayal.
The people of Kusaug gave Mahama everything — trust, votes, belief. What they have received in return is blood, silence, and disgrace.
And history will not forget.
J. A. Sarbah. PP Firebrand | Voice of National Conscience
