Zebilla (U/E) Sept. 9, GNA - Mr Cletus Avoka, Minister of the Interior has rejected the accusation that he was responsible for last Sunday's violence in Bawku.

He said the accusation the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mr Adamu Dramani made on radio stations in Ghana and in the United Kingdom, that his failure to act on information given to him about the training of some people in guerrilla warfare at Nafkologo in the Bawku Municipality led to violence was not true. Mr Dramani had asked Mr Avoka to resign for failing to arrest those people

Mr Avoka refuted the allegation when he addressed a mini-durbar of Chiefs, Security Personnel and Assembly Members of the Bawku West District at Zebilla on Wednesday.

"My conscience is clear, I have no hand in this recent violence or any of the recurrent conflicts in the past", he emphasized, saying that since his appointment as the Minister of the Interior, he has had good relations with all the people of Bawku and had been in friendly contact with the Mamprusis.

Mr Avoka said he had always done his best to promote peace, saying that he had been supporting the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee in various ways including, seeking a means of transport and logistics to help it to carry out its duty of bringing peace to Bawku. "We are committed to peace and would not take sides", he said. He noted that the right thing would be, for all people in politics to avoid using their positions to inflame passions as there was no need to play the blame game with malice since that would not help the situation. He expressed regret that the recurrent conflict was gradually making Bawku, the once vibrant rich town, to become poor. 9 Sept. 09