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Gonja, a vast and a troubled land in the north of Ghana, is home to the ‘Salaga Slave Market’ and numerous ‘slave wells’ which are inhabited by various ethnic groups and tribes.
For decades people of this land have fought many wars against each other to undo what they perceive to be unequal distribution of wealth. Many innocent souls have been lost through the hands of their fellow human beings; they say their grievances cannot be solved with dialogue only arms can help undo many of the injustices they say have existed.
So they fought for everything that they laid their hands on. But a time came when they saw that they cannot continue fighting and that there was the need to seek for amicable solution for many of the issues that divide them. So a truce was called but they were unable to solve their differences even to the extent that in neighbouring Togo, the descendants of this tribes took arms against each other in the 1ate 70’s and early 80’s.
In the early 90’s they fought several wars among themselves in the Northern Regions of Ghana, it was so brutal that many innocent souls were lost, it is difficult to talk of the many atrocities that was committed by not stepping on peoples toes, the government on the day used brutal force to quell the clashes leaving the root causes of the conflict unresolved although it tried to do so but met with little success and the worst of the conflict was yet to come, so in 1995 the conflict erupted again, this time the cause was on the sale of a “guinea fowl” which cost less than 3 dollars at that time but many observers agreed that the root cause of the conflict was more than the cost and subsequent death of the owner of the fowl, the conflict left many homeless, orphaned and widowed in a region known for its high poverty rate and school dropouts.
The army was called in to prevent further death and destruction for which they did with iron fist and brutality but many supporters will argue it calmed the situation down but one which heavily divided the population and still left the conflict unresolved. During and after the conflict no one could cross the divided line without being shot with a bow and arrow, inter-ethnic trade and marriage was stopped and people who were perceived to be the loyalists were ex-communicated or killed.
There was so much tension that all educational activities were put on hold. But in the midst of all the confusion, one man virtually unknown decided that enough was enough and that he will strive hard to bring the various feuding factions together to forge for unity, peace and prosperity but his task was not made easy because he belonged to one side of the feuding factions and was viewed with suspicion but guided by the principle ‘men are sometimes masters of their own faith’ he ventured into what many of his fellow men feared most in a time of great enormity, ‘peace’. During this time this word was sacredly known to those behind the corridors of fear and that if they dared spoke of it they will be considered a weakling and ex-communicated from their people. But this man, known as Jerry Jackson, decided to test his faith and courage and ventured into the lion’s den to bring peace between the great cats. He set off to the other side of the dividing line to meet the men who wield power but he was stopped in his tracks and chased away, it was dearness alone that he escaped with his life by walking into the forest with bear feet, without food for several days he made the journey through the forest in a time of war fearing for his own life. Matters were made worst upon reaching what he perceive to be home, his family was threatened and the family’s house was burnt by his people because they thought he was siding with the enemy and warned that he will be ex-communicated from the town if he didn’t stop.
Left in the dark by his friends and family he vowed to end the cycle of violence that has claimed many innocent souls. He took another step by inviting all the stakeholders to a meeting by first securing a pledge from the army to provide security to the gathering and to protect all the leaders from the ethnic groups. This time, although many voiced their concerns about the whole gathering the chiefs, fearing for their own lives rather, sent in their representatives and the path for peace was laid. But disaster struck when after the gathering, a representative from the architect of the conflict was manhandled with his shirt torn to shreds and when the news got to the town, it was back to the drawing board for Jerry Jackson. He never despaired and quickly he took a motorcycle to intersect the representative from reaching his king and elders, this he did with divine intervention as he managed to reach the man who was on the brink of collapse after escaping for his dear life. Jerry managed to convince him that it was the work of a few misguided elements and that the chief of the town has nothing to do with it. He brought the man home, fed him and clothed him and then took him to the chief who ordered those who manhandled the representative be brought to book by offering a cow and a sheep for what they have done. The people refused the elders’ request and said they will never offer any apology to their enemy let alone an offering for peace. They went to Jerry to warn him of the hell they would unleash if they were made to perform such an offering.
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Rashid
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