Violence in Ghana after independence

Ghana is seen and ranked as one of the most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa⁷ Global Peace Index (GPI) 2016) even though it is surrounded by countries with frequent conflict and violent clashes. The country has also been touted as a beacon of Africa’s democracy because since 1990 it has witnessed three successful and peaceful transitions from one democratically elected government to another accepted both domestically and internationally. The country therefore continues to maintain enviable political stability as compared to neighbouring countries such as Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Ghana also contributed towards the establishment of regional bodies such as the ECOWAS, AU and has also been an active member of the UN.

Nevertheless, the country has not been free from conflict and violent clashes after independence in 1957. There are records of conflicts and violent confrontations in Ghana (Tsikata & Seini 2004), but the difference is that it is arguably on a small scale as compared to similar cases in other countries like Nigeria. Conflicts and violent clashes in Ghana could be linked to political, social, religion, ethnicity and natural resources as being the sources (Tsikata & Seini 2004).

Political violence that erupted were normally triggered by political demonstrations, clashes between party foot soldiers and military coup d’états. For instance, the ‘Kume Preko’⁸

demonstration that was staged in 1995 by the opposition pressure group against the Rawlings regime, specifically the VAT policy, resulted in a bloody clash where four people died and several were injured (Langdon 2009; Ayee 1997). A recent clash happened between foot soldiers of the two major political parties (NDC & NPP). Before the 2016 general elections, the foot

7 The 2016 Global Peace Index report ranked Ghana as 44^th most peaceful country in the world and placed 6^th in Sub-Saharan Africa (GPI 2016). The rankings are done yearly to show the peaceful nature and environment of states and the world at large.

8 ‘Kume Preko’ literally means kill me now.

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soldiers of these two parties organized health walk activities as part of their campaign strategies.

Unfortunately on 13^th December 2016, they clashed in front of the main opposition leader’s residence which resulted in serious fracas and warning shots were fired by some supporters (Myjoyonline.com, 2016)⁹. Also, there have been five coup d’états staged by the military to take over power from elected governments (Tsikata & Seini 2004). The police and personnel from the army combined forces by using guns to topple legitimate governments. The coup makers during their actions physically assaulted some civilians, raped women, killed others and openly

trampled upon the rights of most people.

Religiously, there has not been any recorded incident of violence between Christians and Muslims, in contrast to Nigeria, but a religious conflict that has received extensive media attention is that between the Ga Traditionalist and Christian churches in Accra (Tsikata & Seini 2004). Some Christian churches violated the ban on drumming which is a sacred traditional practice observed by the Gas as part of the celebration of their annual Homowo festival (Tsikata

& Seini 2004).

Also, ethnicity has been an element of some violent clashes and conflict in Ghana. Ethnic-related conflicts have been confirmed by Tonah (2007) in his book Ethnicity, Conflict, and Consensus in Ghana. Tsikata and Seini (2004) also offered a lateral view and argued that the quest to control land and other resources normally ends up in ethnic conflict. Ethnicity has also been the source of some chieftaincy disputes, such as the Dagbon crisis. Examples of ethnic conflicts that have occurred in Ghana include: Nkonya-Alavanyo, Abudus-Andanis, Dagombas and Konkombas and Weija-Oblogo. The Nkonya-Alavanyo ethnic conflict is one of the long-standing feuds which is related to land disputes in the area (Tsikata & Sieni 2004). The conflict still resurfaces because a concrete resolution has not been reached despite a court ruling that the land belongs to the Nkonya people.

Finally, natural resources such as land, water, oil, gold, bauxite, and timber have been the cause of some conflicts in West Africa including Ghana. The reason is that most people in the country depend on natural resources for their livelihood, conflict usually erupts when they grapple to

9 Myjoyonline.com (13 November 2016). NDC, NPP clash: Police to investigate allegations. Available at http://m.myjoyonline.com/marticles/news/ndc-npp-clash-police-to-investigate-allegations-

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control and exploit them for economic gains. Such conflicts happen in agrarian communities, between illegal miners (galamsey) and mining companies and Fulani herders and farmers which is the focus of this research. The second quarter of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) report revealed that the conflict has intensified in Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire (WANEP 2016). Per the report, there is high tension in Eastern and Ashanti Regions of Ghana due to Fulani herdsmen and farmers struggles, and the host communities have demanded that the government expel the Fulanis. The protracted conflict between Fulani

herdsmen and farmers in Agogo which is linked to competition over arable lands resulted in twelve deaths and sixteen injuries from 2009-2013 (Kusaana & Bukari 2015). In recent times, the skirmishes between the farmers and herders in Kwahu East District resulted in shootings whereby Fulani herdsmen allegedly injured three locals. Due to the timely intervention of the police, the clashes did not escalate into conflict (Modernghana.com 2011)¹⁰.

10 Modern Ghana (2011). Tension mounts between farmers and murderous Fulani herdsmen. Available at:https://www.modernghana.com/news/319883/1/tension-mounts-between-farmers-and-murderous-fulan.html

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