Kofi Bentil: “The military must take control of the Bawku situation and impose peace; police cannot do it.”

Kofi Bentil, a private attorney and senior vice president of IMANI Africa, has advocated for a shift in approach to the ongoing violence in Bawku, Upper East Africa.
He claims that military action is now necessary since the situation has gotten out of hand for the police.

Speaking on a TV show on Saturday, April 12, Mr. Bentil made the case that the ongoing use of police to keep the unstable enclave law and order has become ineffectual over time.

According to him, the nature of the conflict demands a more forceful and strategic response, which can only be supplied by the military.

“We have been using it for a long time and we have been failing, so the Bawku situation is not a police matter or a situation of maintaining law and order,” Bentil said.
“The situation is army-related. It will be resolved if we turn it into an army crisis.

Mr. Bentil’s comments coincide with extensive public discussion over the security response to the Bawku crisis and growing demands for a swift and long-lasting end to the ongoing bloodshed.