DECENTRALIZED PLANNING FOR PRE-CONFLICT AND POST-CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN THE BAWKU MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY OF GHANA

Abstract

Decentralized governance in Ghana is aimed at spreading development. Such intention to some extent is marred by communal conflicts. A case studied for this paper is on the Bawku conflict. The Bawku Municipal Assembly, over the years, has put in measures to prevent further conflict but has failed to bring an end to the long waging conflict that continues to explode from time to time. This paper examines the role of the Municipal Assembly in the Bawku conflict, as the planning authority, for the ways that it uses that function to plan toward overcoming the conflict. Framed as a case study, purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select institutions and respondents for interviews. The study revealed that the Assembly had not been able to implement its Development Plans. The dynamics of the conflict also indicates that the feuding factions have maintained their opposing positions. Besides, the Assembly has never prepared any conflict management plan in order to address the recurrent conflicts. The study concludes that a collaborative approach though difficult, is a better option for conflict management between feuding factions. There will also be the need for the Assembly to be interested in designing conflict management plans, strengthening the capacity of the Municipal Planning and Coordinating Unit, the capitalization of a conflict planning programme and the adoption of decentralized institutional arrangements for conflict monitoring and evaluation. Such processes are ‘sine qua non’ to pre-conflict and post-conflict prevention.