The leadership of the Mamprusis in the Bawku municipality has assured government and the upper East security committee of its commitment to ensure lasting peace in the area, but says the Mamprusi representatives on the inter-Ethnic peace committee would not return to the group until government had met their demand.

Speaking through a spokesperson, Alhaji Ibrahim Kolbila, the Mamprusi leadership said the National Security, acting on the advice of the Municipal and the Regional Security Committees, had for a long time denied them the opportunity to also mark the annual Damba festival.

The Mamprusi leadership was speaking at a meeting with the Minister of the Interior, Mark Owen Woyongo, as part of his working visit to the Bawku Municipality last Wednesday, August 27, 2014.

The Mamprusis said they had always told the government their reason for withdrawing from the

Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, and even though the National Security continued to deny them their right to celebrate the festival, government had kept asking them to go back to the Peace Committee.

Earlier, the minister and members of his entourage had called on the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Zug-Rang Bawku Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, at his palace where the he (minister) called on the people to allow peace to reign in the area for the sake of development.

According to the Interior Minister, frequent bad news from Bawku discourages investors from coming to the area to help in their development hence, the need for people to consider the development of the area and use legitimate means to address their?grievances.

Naba Abugrago reiterated the need for all hands to be on deck to restore peace in the area saying, the residents had the responsibility to live in peace with one another and accept one another’s views in good fate, for the sake of development.

The minister, as part of his duty tour of the area, was also billed to visit the Misiga and the Paga borders in the Kassena- Nankana West District and the Navrongo Prison for reasons which had not been disclosed to the media at the time of filing this report.