The Waala Traditional Council has described former President Jerry John Rawlings as the “father of the Upper West Region” and enskinned him as “Bagripie”-Naa, for the good things he has done for the people.

The Council said but for Rawlings, there would not have been any region called Upper West and the people would have still been part of the then Upper Region.

Besides, Rawlings’s administration also extended electricity to the northern parts of the country and established the University for Development Studies, which has campuses in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions to bring higher education to the doorsteps of students from those areas.

It is upon those principles of helping to solve the basic development challenges of the people that motivated the Waala Traditional Council to reward him with the “Bagripie”–Naa title.

“Bagripie” is a sacred place which has the magic wine and it helps in providing answers to all challenges of the Waala.

Any time the Waala are faced with a problem and are unable to resolve it, an elder person would visit the “Bagripie” midnight and put the problem across to it (Bagripie) and within the shortest possible time, the “Bagripie” would prescribe appropriate ways and means of solving the problem to them.

By the honour, the Waala Traditional Council, is equating the power and qualities of “Bagripie” to that of President Rawlings who they believe have solutions to all Ghana’s problems, hence his enskinment.

President Rawlings is in the Upper West Region to commemorate the 38th edition of the June 4 Uprising in Ghana in 1979, and also to celebrate his 70th birthday in Wa, the first of its kind in the history of the region.

Naa Seidu Braimah, Paramount Chief of the Guli-Traditional Area, who on behalf of the Overlord of the Waala Traditional Area, Naa Seidu Fuseini Pelpuo, bestowed the title on President Rawlings, said the Waala Traditional Area would forever remained grateful to him for all the good things he has done for the people in the region.

On the recent murder of Captain Maxwell Mahama, Naa Braimah said the Council was crying to President Rawlings to ensure that all those involved in the act were brought to book and punished without any delay.

He said the Ghana Police Service should be allowed to do their work in this regard and urged them to be more responsive to societal challenges so that they can win the trust and confidence of the public.

Naa Braimah also appealed to President Rawlings not to abandon the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but get actively involved in its reorganisation, saying “you don’t have to throw your hands into the air in despair because some of your children have wronged you”.

“Rise up and bring them all together again. Not all your children can take after you”, he said.

President Rawlings thanked the Waala Traditional Council and the people for the honour done him, saying enskinning him as “Bagripie”-Naa was too high for him.

He assured the Waala Traditional Council that he would always avail himself for them to put heads together to find amicable solutions to disputes which have the potential of developing into conflict situations.

“It is good we maintain the peace for others to emulate us”, he said.