There Will Be No Damba Festival In Bawku

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Wpid Mamprusi Youth
There Will Be No Damba Festival In Bawku

Mamprusi Youth

A section of the Mamprusi Youth at the Press Conference

Some Mamprusi youth residing in the Bolgatanga Municipality have called on government to take steps to ensure that Mamprusis in Bawku are allowed to celebrate their annual Damba Festival just like other tribes.

It is not enough for government to keep saying on every platform that it is making effort to sustain the peace in the Bawku Municipality while it hides behind the police and military to suppress Mamprusis and deny them their right to perform their traditional festival, according to them.

Many Mamprusis in Bawku and across the country are of the view that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is anti-Mamprusis and see its ?connivance? to continuously stop them from celebrating their annual Damba Festival as a confirmation of that suspicion.
At a press conference in Bolgatanga, the youth said the Mamprusis had been prevented from celebrating their Damba Festival for six years.

According to the Mamprusi youth, this year?s Damba celebration, which was slated from 25-28 January 2014, was stopped in the last hour by the Bawku Divisional Police Command on grounds that the Police Command in Bawku did not have enough men to protect them.
They said the Police also banned the festival because they indicated that the Mamprusis failed to inform Kusasi opinion about it.

This excuse from the Police that they do not have enough men to protect the people during the celebration of the Damba Festival has not gone down well with the Mamprusis, who feel oppressed, they indicated.

The Police recently provided security for people who took part in Samanpiid Festival. Before that they provided security for other participants festivals in the area. We see no reason why the same treatment cannot be extended to the Mamprusis, they claimed.

During the recent Samanpiid Festival in Bawku, former President Rawlings called on government not to just talk about sustaining in peace in Bawku but rather ensure that no tribe or group of people in the area are deliberately left out of governance or made to feel oppressed, they indicated.

?This clearly shows that the Police are being biased for which reason they are bent on stopping the Mamprusis from celebrating the Damba festival.
?We believe that the Police are being influenced by some persons in government to ensure that Mamprusis never celebrate their annual Damba Festival.?

 From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga

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