The British Colonial Factor in Inter-Ethnic Conflicts in Contemporary Northern Ghana: The Case of the Nawuri-Gonja Conflict

Abstract

This paper attempts to delineate the causes of the Nawuri-Gonja conflict within the framework of the colonial policy of amalgamation and indirect rule. Introduced in the Northern Territories in 1932 by the colonial government, indirect rule made jurisdiction territorial with a paramount chief serving as the nexus of authority at the local government level. It necessitated the aggregation of states to form large territorial units for administrative purposes and political expediency. Consequently, the Nawuri were amalgamated with the Gonja, and this created tension between them as the former lost their autonomy and control over their land. The conditions of conflict and imbroglio so created between the two ethnic groups systematically manifested in skirmishes and eventually culminated in inter-ethnic conflict in 1991 and 1992. This paper argues that the causes of the conflict between the Nawuri and the Gonja are rooted in the colonial policy of amalgamation; it created conflict structures, which subsequently found expression in social, political and economic debates in the Nawuri territory.