Peace is a quiet thing.
After years of gunfire, curfews and uncertainty, the sound of silence in Bawku in the Upper East Region is itself news.
President John Dramani Mahama, during his tour of the Upper East Region on Friday, August 14, 2026, said what many in the border town had longed to hear: “As the guns have stopped sounding in Bawku, we have an opportunity to begin the process of rebuilding and revitalising the area.
Bawku will bounce back”. See story on page 09
It is a statement of optimism, but also of responsibility.
For Bawku’s bounce-back to be real and not just rhetorical, peace must be protected, and it must be followed quickly with jobs, roads, clinics, and hope.
Bawku has paid a heavy price for the protracted conflict.
Markets that once hummed with trade across the Ghana-Burkina Faso border went quiet. Farms were abandoned.
Schools closed early. Young men who should have been apprentices or students found themselves idle.
Women who traded foodstuffs and cloth watched livelihoods collapse.
The Daily Graphic agrees with the President that the return of relative calm in the past months offers a window.
Windows in conflict zones do not stay open for long.
It is in this window that the government, traditional authorities, youth groups, women’s associations and the security agencies must work together to lock in the gains.
The people of Bawku do not need sympathy alone.
They need the tools to rebuild.
That is why the creation of a GH¢1 billion Bawku Revitalisation Fund is significant.
President Mahama disclosed that a committee will be set up to oversee the disbursement of the fund.
The bulk of the money, he said, would go into health and road infrastructure, while also creating an environment where businesses can thrive again.
This is the right sequencing.
You cannot ask a trader to reopen her shop if the road to bring in goods is impassable.
You cannot ask a mother to have confidence in the future if the clinic has no drugs or staff. You cannot ask young people to forgo violence if there is no legitimate work.
Health first, because years of conflict strain both body and mind.
Roads next, because Bawku’s advantage has always been trade.
And then the enabling environment — electricity, water, security, and access to credit — so that the private sector can return.
But money alone will not hold.
The President’s most important charge was to the people themselves: “Protect the peace, and work towards ensuring that the guns remained silent”.
That charge must be taken seriously in every compound, in every youth group, on every market day.
Peace is not the work of soldiers alone. It is the work of chiefs who choose dialogue over provocation, of mothers who refuse to send their children to fight, of clerics and pastors who preach reconciliation from the pulpit, and of journalists who report with care.
Bawku’s recovery cannot be separated from the wider development of the five northern regions.
President Mahama pledged to increase investment in agriculture, mining, education and health care across the north as part of efforts to bridge the development gap between northern and southern Ghana.
This is long overdue. The north’s comparative advantage lies in agriculture and mining.
The government’s focus on processing facilities, roads, irrigation, extension services and farmer service centres is exactly what is needed to move people from subsistence to prosperity.
Imagine tomato factories in Navrongo, rice mills in Tono, shea butter processing in Bolgatanga, and irrigation schemes that allow dry-season farming.
Imagine feeder roads that get produce to market before they rot, and extension officers who bring new seed varieties to the farmer’s door.
That is how you create jobs and cut poverty.
Mining must also be done right — with local content, environmental safeguards, and revenue that goes into schools and clinics.
Education and health care are the foundation.
A child who stays in school in Bawku, Garu or Wa is a child less likely to be recruited into violence.
We must also invest in social healing. Conflict leaves scars.
Community dialogues, support for victims, and programmes for ex-combatants will help to ensure that the peace is deep, not just superficial.
Bawku has always been a town of resilience, commerce and culture.
It is known for its vibrant market, its entrepreneurial spirit, and its strategic location.
The conflict tried to define it by division.
It is time to redefine it by reconstruction.
President Mahama’s optimism is welcome.
But optimism must be matched with delivery.
The guns have stopped. Now let the cement mixers start.
Let the tractors start. Let the classrooms fill.
Let the clinics have drugs.
To the people of Bawku and the Upper East, this is your moment.
Protect the peace jealously.
Use the fund wisely.
Hold leaders accountable.
