Teachers, Students abandon school at Yayuanbe

Communal clashes between two factions at Yayuanbe, a farming community in the Wa East District has caused teachers and students to desert the basic school in the community. 

Teachers of the Primary and Junior High School fled the community for fear of their lives following clashes between Janbuibe and Dewuobe factions over a protracted land and chieftaincy dispute.

Both factions are claiming ownership of the land and title to the skin, which sparked off the clashes resulting in the shooting, killing of a young man, and burning of houses in the community on June 16, 2024.

These were made known during an emergency meeting with community members and the Upper West Regional Minister Mr Stephen Yakubu and members of the Regional Security council in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

Elder Busia Yayuan who briefed the Regional Security Council said parents of Dewuobe and surrounding communities feared to allow their children to go back to the school because of the volatile situation on the ground.

He said residents of the Janbuibe section of the community had escaped into the bushes to take refuge while their wives had also run–away with their children to their parents.

The Dewuobe people who had remained in the community, had not been able to go to their farms for fear of reprisal attacks from escapees.

Mr Yakubu expressed condolences to the bereaved family and sympathised with those whose houses and other valuables were destroyed and advised them to exercise restraint and cooperate with the police deployed to ensure peace, law, and order.

He said some people were arrested while the police were investigating and pursuing all who escaped.

Mr Yakubu tasked the Wa East District Assembly and the Ghana Education Service to ensure that teachers and students returned to school to continue with teaching and learning.

He called on the community members to consider education and health as topmost priorities because through education they could develop their potentials to enable them to battle poverty; while good health would be a huge wealth to them and the nation.

He described peace as a pillar on which human development rested on, saying, “without peace, nothing meaningful could come their way” and therefore they must be prepared to soften their stands for mediation to take place to find amicable settlement.

Members of the Regional Security Council gathered round the community to see the houses that were burnt and when they came to the Janbuibe sector, not a single soul was noticed; it was a complete ghost abode.