Konkombas demand want district capital sited in their community because they are the majority ethnic group.
The Konkombas in the northern region have vowed not to accept the siting of the yet to be created district capital at Yunyoo in the Yunyoo constituency.
The Konkombas Chiefs and a coalition of their youths including the Konkomba student union say the district capital should be sited at Namong and not Yunyoo as proposed.
Addressing a news conference in Tamale, the Konkomba youth coalition and their opinion leaders made a passionate appeal to the president to look into the merits of their case for the interest of peace and development.
Their reasons are that Namong has a polling station, police station and a secondary school, about four markets generating revenue and other infrastructure a new district such as theirs can start with. What is more, Konkombas make up 76.84 per cent of the total population in the district.
They have petitioned the speaker of parliament, the local government and rural development ministry and the Flagstaff house over the matter but are yet to received any correspondence or acknowledgement.
This, the Konkombas say, was not fair and are therefore demanding what they described as equity and fairness. “We know Nana Addo is a listening president and he is also aware that it was the majority of Ghanaians who voted for him to become the president and we are majority in the area,” the spokesperson of the youth coalition, Mr Mark Puekapan told the press.
The Legislative Instrument (LI) for the creation of the new districts matures on the 19th December. But fears of the Konkombas are that, their demands may not meet the timeline because of the silence of the government on the matter. Asked what their next line of the action will be if their demands are not met, the spokesperson only said, “We will cross the bridge when we get there.”
Pockets of violence and guns issues in the area
The Yunyoo constituency has been experienced some pockets of ethnic violence for sometime now over where the new district capital should be sited.
Police in Gambaga in the East Mamprusi district of the northern region arrested six persons transporting pup action guns and one hundred and thirty cartridges to the Namong.
The six including a woman were in Nissan Patrol vehicle with registration number GE-5433-16. The six has since been transferred to the police headquarters in Accra for further investigations.
