Bawku the beautiful (1)

The indifference of New York
The business savvy of Kumasi
The ethnic diversity of Nima
Bawku, Beauty is thy name

By a mere stroke of fortune, certain places have become endowed with what makes them stand out. An example of this is Bawku in the Upper East Region.

If you are wondering just how Bawku could be special, ask yourself this: how many places in Ghana share boundaries with two different countries? 

Also worthy of mention, though not less important, is the fact that of the major towns throughout northern Ghana, Bawku is one place that serves the most plentiful quantity of quality-brewed pito for a calabash price. 

I set off for Bawku through Bolgatanga by bus. It is early evening on a lovely, harmattan day. A low, glowing sun is dancing above widely dispersed thatched huts.

Dry millet stalks of the recent harvest have all crumbled to the ground, exposing a vast, grey landscape. The emptiness, against a sunlit horizon, outlines the beauty of sheer space. 

Bare-chested workmen are puffing off their last efforts before the day ends. Once in a while, our bus stops for Fulani-led cattle to cross the highway. I see more farmers in onion and rice fields.

They are watering crops with water from nearby dams. Two containers of water held in each arm with a pole joining them rest on muscular shoulders. 

At Zebilla, the sun still rides along. This time, it is dipping behind the hills far across the field. A climb on those hills descends to Burkina Faso.

One wonder about the Bawku area is that it is surrounded by so many hills, but still has a few left to dot its villages and towns. Perhaps, this shouldn’t be a surprise since Bawku in the Kusaal language means ‘‘valley.’’

Real name is Bawk

For the records, the real name is Bawk. The ‘‘u’’ at the tail is only superfluous — another evidence of the damage colonialism has done to place names in Ghana. Bawku is used loosely to refer to that area in the north easternmost arc of the country. 

Call it the “Far East’’ of Ghana if you like. Districts within the area include Bawku West, headquartered at Zebilla and the Garu-Tempane District. 

The third district is Bawku East, which has been elevated to a municipality. The capital is the place mostly known as Bawku, where I am now heading. It is 84 kilometres from Bolgatanga and about 900 kilometres from Accra. 

Thirsty

I arrive at Bawku with the instinct of a thirsty stranger. I find myself heading straight to  Gigande, a suburb, to rectify this need. Soon enough, I am seated at a pito bar with a thatch for shade. 

After a couple of mouthfuls of the refreshing ale, I notice three other men in the partially enclosed bar. They are all middle-aged men cooling off the day’s work on the local brew. Perhaps, they are pepping up their appetites before attending to their wives’ evening meal. 

I peer into my calabash for another sip. Instead, I see visions of tuo zaafi by a bowl of groundnut and bitter leaf soup with grilled guinea fowl floating in a central position. 

I swallow my pito and jump into a taxi to the Suncity Restaurant, Missiga Road, where I settle for a lonely continental dinner.

After my meal, I am faced with the prospect of an early retirement to bed. Fatigue is the culprit. Back in the centre of town, I thirst for a nightcap of something bottled but non-alcoholic. 

Zanaa Mat Bar appears tempting but I passed over to the less crowdy Old Timers Bar near the Community Centre. After another taxi ride and another long walk, I surrender my tired self at the doorstep of the Savannah Guest House. It is located on Zawse Road and if you ask me, I rate it ok.

I wake up to an inspiring morning entertaining the prospect of Hausa kooko and freshly fried koosey. But the Savanah Guest House tells me that is out of the question.

Yes, they are bed and breakfast, but the breakfast that went along with their bed had nothing to do with millet porridge and fried bean cakes.

Well, whatever there is, bring it on. Painfully, I munched through fried eggs with toast and oats, while mapping out my itinerary for the day.

After breakfast, I take a long walk under the yet-to-be-hostile sun. My first point is the post office where I mail a ‘’From Bawku with Love” letter. 

I walk through the main street at Natinga, the commercial hub. Bawku earned a big reputation in the 1960 and 1970s as a result of a trade boom. During the period, nationals from all over West Africa arrived to make a fortune. 

Along with the influx came certain particularly fair ladies from Nigeria. They were famously known as the Calabar Girls. Their speciality was to earn money by comforting the men who worked so hard to sustain the economic boom. 

I stop by a young lady who is operating a phone call centre. She offers me a plastic chair to make me comfortable. As I make my call, I couldn’t help but notice that watermelons were in season. They are all over; in passing pick-ups and donkey carts, in front of shops and on hawkers’ heads. 

This is the high street of Bawku and everyone is busily doing something or heading somewhere. Traffic on the street is a mix affair of trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, donkey carts, pedestrians and sheep. Make no mistake, right in this order, you may find all the listed road users in tow at a time. 

For characterisation, Bawku possesses the indifference of New York, the business savvy of Kumasi and the live-and-let-live-in spite-of-ethnic-diversity of Nima. It is a town that has ‘‘mind your own business’’ stamped all over it. 

With Burkina Faso to its north and Togo on the East, the Bawku town is a beehive of commerce. This is amply demonstrated by the large number of trailers and cargo trucks parked near the police station. 

Depending on the economy of scale, the town handles goods and services that are in constant transit between Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso. 

Sharing borders with two countries, Bawku is a West African melting pot. It is also the transit point for cargo en route to Niger and Mali.

The entry points to Togo include Widana (Pulimakom) and Kpikpira, while the northern neighbour is reached through Kulungungu and Mognori. Items traded vary from salt through onions to sweet potatoes. Others are cattle, petroleum products clothing and grains. 

As far as peopling is concerned, Bawku boasts of a beautiful permutation. In alphabetical order, the groups include the Basaris, Bimobas, Bisas, Fulanis, Hausas, Kusasis, Mamprusis, Moshies, Yandes and Yorubas.

This place certainly is some West African melting pot with Hausa easily passing as the lingua franca. 

In terms of real wealth, the area should have one of the highest per capita in Ghana. One does not need help from the statistics services on this.

Even if you subtract the human resources and just take the number of cargo trucks, add it to the multitude of cattle and multiply it by the fact that the largest Mecca goers nationwide come from Bawku, you will probably understand where I have been.