INTERIOR MINISTER COMMENDS CHIEFS, PEOPLE OF UPPER WEST (PAGE 35)

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, has commended the chiefs and people of the Upper West Region for their role in ensuring continued peace in the region.
He said despite some differences among the ethnic groups, as well as some existing chieftaincy disputes and other disagreements, the people continued to exhibit a high sense of unity in diversity.
He, therefore, called on the people of the two other northern regions, particularly Bawku in the Upper East Region, to emulate the example of the Upper West Region by conducting themselves in a way that would ensure that constant peace prevailed in their respective regions.
Mr Avoka gave the advice when he addressed a durbar of chiefs and people at the Naa Sidiki Bomi II park at Wa in the Upper West Region.
"The Upper West would definitely have some problems like ethnic and chieftaincy disputes, but they still co-exist peacefully," he noted, saying, "I am grateful to the people of Upper West for the constant peace."
Commenting on the state of the Ghana Prisons and the police service in the region, Mr Avoka expressed grave concern about the overcrowding in the Wa prisons, which he said was to cater for 80 inmates but was currently occupied by 200 inmates.
He said accommodation for the police in the region was also bad and gave the assurance that the government had taken note of it and would do what it could to improve the situation.