The 15 communities still under curfew in Ghana

Communities have been engaged in chieftaincy conflicts

Some towns in Ghana are under 12-hour curfews

Bawku is in the news again, and unfortunately for one of the obvious reasons, the town is back under curfew.

In a statement signed by the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery, he said that this has been necessitated by some insecurity threats in the communities.

The curfew which comes into effect from Wednesday, November 24, 2021, is said to commence at 4:00 pm each day and end at 6:00 am the next morning.

“The Minister for the Interior has on the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council and by Executive Instrument imposed a curfew on Bawku Municipality and its environs in the Upper East Region from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. effective Wednesday, 24, November 2021.

“The imposition of the curfew has been as a result of a threat of insecurity in the communities concerned,” the statement said.

But speaking about curfews, Bawku is not alone in this.

In this GhanaWeb listicle, we bring to you some of the towns across the country that are still under curfew due to one or two reasons. For a number of these areas, their curfews have lasted more than a decade.

Here they are, sourced from dennislawgh.com:

Alavanyo and Nkonya

The people of Alavanyo and Nkonya have been living in curfew for many years now due to an ethnic clash that dates as far back as the 18th century.

Despite the various curfews imposed and appeals made at redressing the subject matter, there has persisted a series of conflicts between them till today.

With nothing changing to date, they have remained under curfew.

Chereponi and Saboba

A renewed 30-years feud in Saboba in May 2021, resulting in the burning of several properties, led to the renewal of their curfew hours.

Available records indicate that an outbreak of violence in 2019 arising from clashes between the Konkombas and the Chokosis led to the further imposition of curfew on Chereponi and Saboba.

Doba and Kandiga

Doba and Kandiga in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality and the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region are currently under a 12-hour curfew.

This was after six persons were killed and 12 houses torched over a renewed land dispute between the two communities.

Kpatinga

Two feuding factions in a chieftaincy dispute at Kpatinga in 2020, which led to the arrest of five accused persons in connection with the violence, brought the community under curfew.

According to police prosecutors, the accused persons were wielding firearms at the time of their arrest. This, therefore, led to an imposition of curfew by the Ministry of Interior.

Bimbila

In Bimbilla in 2017, there were clashes between two chieftaincy gates with sporadic shooting in the area claiming two lives.

This returned the township to one of its many dark days of chieftaincy conflicts.

It was reported that apart from the two persons who died, several others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

It must be stated that this conflict came about despite an already existing 12-hour curfew in the area.

Drobo, Japekrom, Bibianiha, Kwaibourkrom, Mpuasu, Basekrom, Kojokesekrom, and Katakyiekrom

According to dennislawgh.com, in October 2018, the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery, by an Executive Instrument, imposed a curfew on Drobo, Japekrom, and six other communities in the Jaman South Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region, following a shooting incident that took two lives and injured several others.