The Lambussie Area has seen a level of civil unrest in the past weeks and in the process several people were injured and a life was lost.

It can be recalled that earlier in July 2024, a farmer was murdered in his farm within the Lambussie District.

LAMBUSSIE TRADITIONAL AREA YOUTH ASSOCIATION
29
TH JULY, 2024.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
PRESS RELEASE
RE: PRESS RELEASE ON DEADLY LAND DISPUTE BETWEEN SOME DAGARA
AND SISAALA COMMUNITIES IN THE LAMBUSSIE DISTRICT OF THE UPPER
WEST REGION
Members of the general public, the Lambussie Traditional Area Youth Association (LTAYA) wishes to refer to a press release issued on 21st July 2024 by some concerned Dagara Youth in the Lambussie District of the Upper West Region of Ghana which contains false information
regarding land disputes between Dagara settlers and Sissala landowners in the district. The
Dagara Youth put out their false and inaccurate version of the issues in the public domain purely to earn underserved sympathy from the good people of Ghana. We hereby issue this rebuttal in order to correct the misleading information presented by the Dagara youth and to the general
public to know the truth.

1. In the first place, this unthoughtful press release tried to suggest that the Sissalas are forcefully taking away farmlands belonging to Dagara settlers in recent years. We hereby
   wish to clearly state that the Dagara have no land in Lambussie District. All lands in the district belong to Sisaalas. However, out of good will, the Sisaalas allowed the Dagara
   settlers to use Sisaala farmlands in accordance with Sisaala cultural norms and procedures. The Dagara are settlers in Lambussie District; they are not indigenes and so cannot be landowners. Sisaalas also have every right to take back farmlands they allowed the Dagara to use when the agreed terms and conditions are broken. This situation should
   not be characterized as forceful seizure of lands as the uninformed concerned Dagara Youth aims to mislead the general public via their press release of 21st July 2024.
2. It is important to note that besides the Dagara, there are other ethnic groups who have also settled on Sisaala lands in Lambussie District. These non-Dagara settlers are abiding by the terms and conditions under which they are being allowed to use the Sisaala farmlands. It is only the Dagara settlers who have, in recent years, refused to abide by Sisaala customs and traditions, and therefore violated the terms and conditions under which they were allowed to use the farmlands.
3. Thirdly, the press release falsely claims that Mr. Aabangme Kuuseg, aka Kofi Pala, was attacked and shot dead on his farm by a suspected Sissala youth group on 15th July 2024.
   Since this case is under investigation by the Ghana Police Service, it is pre-judicial for the concerned Dagara youth to insinuate that Sisaalas are the perpetrators of the incident.
4. Fourthly, the Dagara Youth’s press release claims that Sissala youth at Hiine were involved in a shooting on 13th July 2024 which resulted in the arrest of one Mr. Ralio
   Woma Aasuor and Mr. Simon Kpenuzie by the Ghana Police Service. This claim is a deliberate attempt to distort the facts and to earn undeserved public sympathy. We
   (LTAYA) wish to categorically state that the mentioned incident took place in Buli and not Hiine. The land of Hiine is owned by the people of Bulli who generously allowed the Dagara to settle there. In addition, the Dagara Youth’s claim that it was the Sisaala youth who engaged in the shooting is not true. It was rather the Dagara who mobilized not less than two hundred Dagara people who went and attacked Bulli people at the Bulli Chief’s
   palace simply because Mr. Simon Kpenuzie was asked to stop ploughing on a particular plot of farmland until some discussions regarding the conditions and terms of his use of
   the land were finalized. Does this warrant Mr. Simon Kpenuzie to mobilize a group of Dagara youth to march with guns and machetes to attack Sisaalas in their homes? Six
   Sisaalas were seriously injured in this cowardly act. The Dagara Youth’s press release was unfortunately silent about the Sisaalas who were attacked and wounded by the gang of Dagara and had to be conveyed by an ambulance to the St. Theresa’s Hospital.
5. The concerned Dagara Youth also claims that on 3
   rd April 2024, hundreds of gun yielding Sisaalas on motor bikes descended to Kyognuorgaugn to harvest fish in a little pond which almost dried up. This is another attempt to mislead and confuse the general public
   and to earn underserved sympathy. The fish harvest in the pond in question is an annual customary practice of Sisaalas that is organized by the Sisaalas in Bulli; the Dagara are usually invited. Unfortunately, on this faithful day of 3rd July 2024, when the Sisaalas went for the harvest and entered the pond, the Dagara attacked them from behind with
   weapons, including catapults, stones and sticks. This resulted in a serious clash, and when the Dagara settlers realized they were overpowered, they fired gun shots at the armless Sisaalas, who ran for their lives leaving four motorbikes behind. Two of these motors bikes were burnt by the Dagara settlers. We know they are still keeping two other motor bikes belonging to Sisaalas. In an attempt by six Sisaala youth to go back for the motorbikes, they stumbled into a military and police convoy; they were arrested and severely manhandled. Contrary to what the Concerned Dagara Youth’s press release
   pretends, the six Sisaala youth were unarmed. It is shocking for the Dagara Youth to claim that the Sisaalas went to the pond with guns; guns are not fishing equipment. The press release further claims that the six Sisaalas arrested have been released for an
   unknown reason. May we know what happened to the Dagara settlers who shot at the Sisaalas in the full glare of the police? Why is the concerned Dagara Youth only concerned about their kin?
6. The Dagara Youth also indicated that they have worked with opinion leaders in the Dagara settler communities, including chiefs and assembly men, to petition various
   stakeholders mandated to ensure peace and security. A plausible interpretation is that the
   Dagara Youth was preventing their opinion leaders, headmen and assembly men from
   engaging the relevant bodies to facilitate peaceful coexistence. On several occasions, the Dagara settler headmen and assembly men were invited at Koro Chief’s palace and the
   palace of the Paramount Chief. The Dagara settler headmen never showed up, an example of evidence of their strategy to perpetuate violence against the Sisaala indigenes. If the
   Dagara youth now pretends it understands and sees the need to engage relevant bodies that can contribute to an amicable resolution of the disputes, then we (LTAYA) welcome this change of heart. We are however very skeptical because this might just be to blur the
   eyes of the general public regarding their hidden agenda to take over Sisaala lands and infringe upon their cultural rights and heritage.
7. The Dagara Youth’s press release also sought to create a wrong impression that Col.Dingane is the cause of all the previous and on-going disturbances. This clearly shows they lack a good understanding of the land tenure system which is manifested by their dubious intention of making themselves landowners. The truth is that Col. Dingane simply went to cultivate his land and as a matter of courtesy, he informed the Dagara settler who previously farmed on it that the land was no longer available for him, the Dagara settler, to use. The fact that the Dagara settler has been using the land for years does not make him landowner – it is not so in Lambussie Traditional Area and not so in many other parts of Ghana. At a meeting with the Chiefs and Dagara Headmen, Col Dingane very clearly explained that he was taking back his piece of land because he wanted to use it. Col Dingane could not have chosen to satisfy the settler’s demand and give up his own rights and need to use his family farmland. We believe that the Dagara settlers would not agree to such an arrangement if they were the landowners.
8. Another unfounded allegation raised in the Dagara Youth’s press release is their claim that the District Chief Executive (DCE), Hon George Naluri, has persistently
   demonstrated bad faith towards the Dagara settlers in a dispute regarding the arrest of some Dagara settlers by the police for illegally cutting down economic trees like sheanut and dawadawa trees. Immediately the arrest was made, one Mr. Michael Bedere organized the Dagara settler youth to go to Lambussie to attack and burn down the Police Station. This was a barbaric plan that could not be allowed by the DCE and the youth of Lambussie. Unfortunately for Mr. Michael Bedere and the Dagara Youth, luck eluded them because the youth of Lambussie Traditional Area got wind of their plan. They rushed to the Police Station and made it very clear to the Dagara youth that the Police Station does not belong to Dagara settlers; they would therefore not allow the Dagara youth to burn it down.
9. Ladies and gentlemen, it is abundantly clear from this rebuttal, what the Dagara settlers in
   Lambussie District actually want from their Sisaala hosts is to take over ownership of Sisaala land. They started it with the GPS address system when twelve electoral areas of Lambussie were captured as part of Nandom to enable Nandom to achieve municipal status. Thankfully, through the alertness and hard work of LTAYA, some of these areas have been reverted back to Lambussie District. The Dagara settlers’ new strategy is to annex Sisaala farmlands as their pathway to achieving their dubious objective of becoming landowners in the district. Most people from northern Ghana have been to other parts of the country and very well know that in other Ghanaian jurisdictions, one cannot attain land ownership by mere long-term use of a particular piece of land. It is conceivable that the Dagara people certainly know this fact about land ownership in other jurisdictions of the country but stubbornly refuse to appreciate the benevolence Sisaalas have extended them for decades. We Sisaalas believe the common enemy of development in Upper West Region is poverty, which does not differentiate between Dagara and Sisaala. Yet, our Dagara settlers have decided to embark on a hidden and impossible agenda of grabbing Sisaala lands. They are doing this by disrespecting and disregarding Sisaala customs, traditions, and cultural rights and heritage.
10. The Lambussie Traditional Authority realized the Dagara’s attempts to annex Sisaala
    farmlands in the district, and invited the Dagara headmen and the youth of Dagara communities to a meeting to discuss the issue. During the meeting with the District Security Committee, the Dagara headsmen and youth continuously complained about some perceived increasing cost of items they are obliged by Sisaala culture and traditions to provide to Sisaala Chiefs and elders when a Dagara settler dies and must be buried. It is very sad that an educated Dagara settler like Mr. Francis Beinpuo fails to understand that culture is basically place-based and dynamic. The Dagara youth’s claim that the cost of the items they have to provide the Chiefs and elders of LTA is too high simply implies that they do not respect Sisaala culture, cultural rights and heritage.

Everybody in Ghana knows that the value of land is constantly increasing just like the prices of all other resources, products and services. The cultural items the Dagara have to provide the Chiefs and elders in the event of the death of a settler (whether Dagara or non-Dagara) include a bottle of an alcoholic drink drink for pouring libation before land is demarcated for digging a grave and other items that are not worth up to four hundred Ghana cedis. It is worth noting here that other non-Dagara settlers willingly provide the required items when they need land to bury a dead person. It is also worth noting that Sisaalas themselves provide these items to the Chiefs and Elders when they need land to bury a dead Sisaala. Yet, the Dagara youth and their elders find this unacceptable and are determined to forcibly undermine Sisaala culture and traditions.

11. In conclusion, we the Youth of Lambussie Traditional Area wish to state emphatically that the Sisaala are among the most peaceful and generous group of people in Ghana and that is why we have so many playmates in the country and even across the country’s borders. We therefore hereby entreat the general public to disregard the falsehoods being peddled by the Dagara Youth against Sisaalas who have generously hosted them over many decades.

The concerned Dagara Youth is hiding its real agenda to take over Sisaala
land, pollute its culture and traditions and earn public sympathy through falsehood and propagation of lies. If the Dagara settlers in Lambussie District cannot accept and respect
Sisaala land rights, culture, cultural rights and heritage, they the Dagara settlers are very free to leave our district and go to anywhere they will be allowed to do whatever they
want. Full respect for Sisaala land rights, culture and traditions by all people living in the Lambussie Traditional Area is not negotiable. If you go to Rome, you do as the Romans do!
Any comment can be sent through the following email address:
lambussietraditionalyouth@gmail.com

END