The development has reignited national concerns about a recurring wave of unrest in educational institutions.

The disturbances, which began late on Thursday, August 14, saw students set fire to parts of the campus, causing extensive property damage and bringing academic activities to a standstill.

The violence at BOTECH resulted in the destruction of the school’s library and the senior housemaster’s office, the most recent in a series of similar incidents that have plagued technical and secondary schools across the country.

The action was taken by authorities to safeguard students, staff, and school property while investigations are carried out.”

While the specific cause of this latest riot remains under police investigation, past student unrests have often been linked to issues such as strict examination invigilation, conflicts with school authorities, and poor living conditions.

The financial toll of these incidents is substantial, with government and school management facing significant costs to repair or rebuild damaged infrastructure.

Although no injuries were reported in the Bolgatanga incident, the threat of violence remains a serious concern for school communities.

This incident, much like a similar protest at the Bawku Technical Institute, highlights the need for a comprehensive, long-term solution to address the root causes of student grievances. ”

We need to move beyond reacting to these events and focus on proactive measures,” one educational analyst noted, adding that dialogue between students and school management is key to preventing future outbreaks of violence. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but the academic calendar for the school’s students has been severely disrupted, affecting their preparations for upcoming examinations.

This video provides additional context on a similar student protest at the same institution in 2022, highlighting how such events can lead to the temporary closure of schools.

Source: Myjoyonline.com  

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The bus was reported to be traveling from Garu in the Upper East Region to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region when the gunmen ambushed it and opened fire on the travelers.

The incident, which occurred around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, resulted in several passengers sustaining serious gunshot wounds. The injured persons have been taken to the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga.

It is not clear what triggered the attack; however, sources say it is linked to the Bawku conflict.

The police have since taken control of the crime scene.

Meanwhile, a violent clash between combatants in Bawku on Friday afternoon resulted in the death of two individuals.

The confrontation took place in the Kpalore-Gozesi area, leading to the arrest of four people and the seizure of eight assault rifles by security forces.

The arrested individuals have been transferred to the Upper East Regional Police Headquarters in Bolgatanga for further investigation.

This latest incident has raised the death toll to 41 since the conflict resurfaced in October 2024.

The ongoing chieftaincy dispute continues to fuel tensions in the region.

Despite the imposition of a dawn-to-dusk curfew, the area remains unstable, with communities experiencing self-imposed isolation due to the volatile situation.

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According to him, this will solve the challenges faced in transporting patients to the Greater Accra region for further treatment.

“Somebody is involved in an accident and unless there is a helicopter, which even takes three hours from Accra to Bolgatanga, but if there was a flight, it would have taken just one hour to Korle Bu and we are missing that due to the lack of an airport,” Mr. Avoka stressed.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Thursday, March 14, Mr Avoka also argued that, an airport will address security concerns in the region particularly due to the insurgencies in the Sahel and neighboring towns.

“We share a border with two countries and because of the security challenges in the Sahel, we need to mobilize troops to Bolgatanga and quickly deploy them to the areas if there is a problem which doesn’t exist in this modern era,” he stated.

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The accused persons, aged between 17 and 20, were charged on two counts of conspiracy to commit crime to wit assault and assault contrary to section 84 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Francis Tamanja told the court that the complainant, also a student and resident of Sawaba, a suburb of Bolgatanga, received a phone call from one of the accused persons on September 30, 2023, to the effect that one of them had accused her of having an amorous relationship with her boyfriend.

The complainant was asked to meet the accused persons at St Joseph Guest House in Bolgatanga to discuss the matter.

When they met there, one of the accused persons said the place was not conducive for them to deliberate on the matter and requested that they converge at the Mobile Astro Turf Park, also in Bolgatanga around 4:30 pm same day to discuss the issue.

Not knowing that the one who called had already mobilised the other accused persons to be on standby, the complainant showed up at the Mobile Astro Turk Park and was attacked and subjected to severe beatings for allegedly having an affair with one of their boyfriends.

The Prosecutor said the accused persons recorded the scene and later shared it on social media.

Bolga: 6 students who fought over an amorous relationship with one's boyfriend remanded https://t.co/iqwRwTNhFp pic.twitter.com/SH1dE3hENX

— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) October 6, 2023

However, the complainant was rescued by some members of the Dangwoe community who sent her to the hospital to receive treatment.

The complainant later reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest and arraignment of the accused persons before the court.

Their pleas were not taken and were subsequently remanded into police custody by the court presided over by Sumaila Mbache Ahamudu.

Hearing of the case continues on Monday, October 9, 2023.

Tindana, charged with two offences of murder under section 46 of the Criminal Offences Act of 1960, Act 29, pleaded not guilty.

But the Court presided over by Mr Charles Adjei Wilson, Regional Supervising High Court Judge, with a unanimous decision from a seven-member jury Tindana himself selected, found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

Prosecuting Senior State Attorney, Mrs Joyce Debrah said Tindana is a self-acclaimed traditional spiritualist from Kulpeliga in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region and the husband and father to the deceased, 25-year Talata Abigail Kurug and two-year-old Nyapoka Mbawona Tidana.

According to Prosecution, Tindana had accused his wife and daughter of being witches.

The prosecution said on June 27, 2019, at about 1630 hours, deceased wife who had gone out of the house, was told by their son that the Tindan who is also the ‘Tindana’ for the area had killed his sister and sacrificed her to the gods.

The prosecution said the deceased then rushed back to the house and saw the daughter lying dead, in a pool of blood with the brains scattered.

The Prosecution said out of shock, the deceased collapsed and the accused pounced and hit her with an axe and a machete on the head, thereby killing her in addition to their daughter.

He also hit his son with the matchet but the son managed to escape and was saved by young people who were playing football near their house and later took him to the hospital for treatment.

The prosecution said an eyewitness who saw the action could not save them due to the axe and machete Tindana was holding, so she hid and later alerted the police who came and arrested the accused person.

A police report said two deceased were found dead in a pool of blood and discovered an axe and a machete stained with blood lying on the ground beside the deceased.

A medical report also indicated that the deceased was hit by strong objects causing serious head injuries that led to their death.

The arrest was through an intelligence-led operation on Wednesday, December 22, 2021, with a manhunt launched for their accomplice.

The outfit in a statement noted the arrested suspects have been identified as Mbabila Gideon and Castro Permadok.

Report indicates the gang attacked and robbed their victims of a Honda and a V-5 Apsonic motorbikes in the Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region on December 18, 2021.

During Police interrogation, the two suspects admitted their complicity in the robbery with one other only known as L.K, currently on the run and in possession of the motorbikes together with a locally manufactured pistol which they used for their robbery expeditions.

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The two suspects have been identified by their victims and are currently in Police custody assisting the investigations to arrest their accomplice, L.K.

“We are determined to arrest and prosecute criminal elements in our communities for the peace and safety of all,” the police assured in a statement.

The suspects, Ayine Awunnore, also known as Agu King, aged 27 and Daniel Awunnore, 20 years, were alleged to be involved in a robbery incident on December 28, 2020, at Bukere, a suburb of the Bolgatanga Municipality.

A signed statement issued by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) David Fianko-Okyere, the Public Affairs Officer of the Command, indicated that the brothers attacked their victim, snatched his motorbike and mobile phone and went into hiding in 2020.

According to the statement, on September 28, 2021, the Regional Surveillance Team of the Command, based on intelligence, arrested the suspects at their hideout at Winkongo in the Talensi District of the Region.

It said the suspects were identified after they used their victim’s mobile phone to make a call and subsequently went into hiding as police pursued them. 

“A search conducted on suspect Ayine Awunnore revealed one Dell laptop computer, three Dell laptop computer batteries, a power bank, one motorbike mirror, two master keys, one Dayang Motorbike with Registration Number M-21-UE 4196 and Chassis Number LATXCHLYSK 1055769,” the statement disclosed.

It said a similar search in the room of suspect Daniel Awunnore led to the retrieval of 27 rounds of pistol ammunition, one return spring, nine assorted brand new mobile phones and cash of GH¢250.00 all in a bag.

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The statement further added that one black cable whip, four memory cards and one royal motorbike with registration number M-21-AW 2507 and chassis number: BLB7GJC5AXMFR12480 were found.

The Command entreated members of the public, especially residents of the Region to visit offices of the Regional Criminal Investigations Department located at Damweon on the Bolgatanga-Tamale Highway, to identify the suspects or their valuables.

The statement noted that the items would be kept as exhibits for evidential purposes.

Preliminary investigations showed that 18 of the foreigners were Burkinabes, while the rest were Nigerians.

The two-hour swoop was led by personnel from the Upper East Regional Police Command, with support from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).

The Public Affairs Officer of the Upper East Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr David Fianko-Okyere, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Bolgatanga last Sunday evening, said the foreigners were being taken through further levels of screening to ascertain the veracity of their claims to various nationalities.

Police investigations

ASP Fianko-Okyere further explained that during interrogation, some of the suspects had said they were working at some places they claimed as their offices or place of work, while those who were arrested in homes said those places were their permanent places of residence.

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He indicated that the police would conduct further investigations to find out those who were residing in the country legally and illegally, saying those found to be illegal residents would be handed over to the GIS for possible repatriation to their respective countries.

Porous borders

The Public Affairs Officer observed that although Ghana’s borders remained closed as part of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, investigations showed that some people were likely to be using unapproved routes to get into the region, and for that matter the country.

He stressed that the approved routes were being manned effectively by the security agencies and so it was unlikely that people would use those routes to get into the country.

He advised residents of the region to do background checks on foreigners who wanted to rent their houses or apartments by liaising with the police.

Advice

ASP Fianko-Okyere advised residents of the region not to harbour criminals or people with suspicious backgrounds, as those residents would not be spared if found out.

He stressed that the Regional Police Command had begun an operation to weed out criminals and curb crime in the region and would carry out unannounced swoops as part of the operation.

“Let me remind residents that our robust operational strategy is still in force and so you will continue to see snap checkpoints, 24-hour patrol by uniformed men and plainclothes intelligence-gathering personnel in the streets and everywhere in the Upper East Region,” he stressed.

Curbing crime

Last week, the Regional Police Command began an exercise as part of efforts to curb the increasing rate of crime in the region, which was also getting violent.

The crimes include armed robbery at particularly mobile money vendors and the snatching of motorbikes at gunpoint.

Records at the command show that perpetrators of about 75 per cent of violent crimes, particularly robbery, used unregistered motorbikes to commit those crimes.

In last week’s operation, 107 unregistered motorbikes were impounded, out of which only nine owners have presented their genuine documents and their motorbikes subsequently released to them.

GIS caution on jail breakers

Also, the GIS has cautioned Ghanaians living in communities along the country’s land borders to be vigilant and careful about their interactions with foreigners, advising them not to help such people enter the country illegally, as they could be fugitives.

That follows news of a massive jail break in Nigeria where 1,800 people escaped a fortnight ago, a situation that has also seen the GIS trigger high-alert surveillance at the borders.

In a statement to alert and caution both GIS staff at the regional borders and border community members, the GIS said there was the possibility that some 1,800 convicts who escaped from the Owerri Custodial Centre in Nigeria might seek to cross into Ghana to avert recapture.

More than 1,800 prisoners are on the run from southeast Nigeria after they had escaped when heavily armed gunmen attacked their prison, using explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, the authorities said.

The Kassena-Nankana Municipal Chairman of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Habib Mahama, who confirmed the death of the nurse, said he died on Friday.

He said the deceased worked at the Paediatric Unit of the hospital as a Registered General Nurse, adding that 15 staff of the facility had tested positive to the virus, and advocated mass testing for all staff of the War Memorial Hospital to be sure that more staff were not infected.

Mr Mahama also called on the management of the hospital to close down the facility for fumigation to ensure a safe environment for healthcare delivery.

He said the leadership of the GRNMA in the Municipality was yet to get more information on how his members were responding to treatment at the Centre, and further advised members of the Association in the Region to adhere to the health protocols.

“All is not lost, we have to observe the necessary protocols to make sure that we keep ourselves safe. We also want to call on authorities of the health care system to ensure that the necessary Personal Protective Equipment and other logistics are provided for our members to enable them work without fear,” he said.

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Some health professionals, who attended to the deceased at the treatment centre before he passed on, disclosed to the GNA that his oxygen concentration level on arrival at the treatment centre was about 34 per cent, and despite all interventions, to save him, he passed on.

Meanwhile, a situation report from the Upper East Regional Health Directorate, compiled by Dr Emmanuel Dzotsi the Regional Director and his team, indicated that there were 39 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.

The report said 22 out of the number were females, while 17 were males.

It said two of the female cases were less than 15 years, three were between the ages of 15 to 24 years, seven were between 25 to 34 years, four were between 35 to 44 years, two between 45 and 59 and four were above 59 years.

On the part of the male cases in the Municipality, the report indicated that eight persons out of the 17 males who tested positive were from the ages of 25 to 34, while nine ranged from the ages of 35 and above 59 years.

According to the report, 586 cases and contact tracing were done, out of which 528 turned negative while results of 19 persons were pending.

The insects went on a stinging spree that resulted in the injury of two persons, including an elderly man.

The situation compelled the police authorities to mount a barrier in front of the police command to prevent unsuspecting commuters from using a stretch of the Bolgatanga-Bawku road where the police command was located.

The Bolgatanga District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Richard Anaba Salifu, who confirmed the incident, intimated that the affected people were subsequently rushed to the Upper East Regional Hospital.

One person had so far been discharged while the other person, the elderly man, was currently responding to treatment, he noted.

Chief Supt Salifu said the elderly man had come to the police command in connection with a case involving a family member and while returning home, the bees stung him mercilessly.

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The man fell flat on the ground to prevent further attack on him, but the bees continued to sting him.
According to the district police commander, the police authorities quickly called in personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service and the Zoomlion Ghana Limited who managed to bring the situation under control.

Chief Supt Salifu noted that as of now, everything was calm and the district police command had since resumed work after the situation was brought under control.

Eyewitnesses alleged that the bees were attracted to the elderly man because of the perfume he had used.

About bees
Bees belong to the Phylum Arthropoda of Kingdom Animalia, and they take one of the top spots in the world when it comes to population.

The major attractors to bees are scent and colour of the natural environment. Food, flowers, light and other attractors also catch the attention of bees.

What attracts bees more than anything else is scent. Bees look for flowers for pollination and to consume pollen and nectar.

Therefore, they mostly get attracted to sweet, flowery scents.

The legislator on Monday begun a four-day-tour in the region ahead of the 2020 election.

She is expected to visit the Garu, Tempane, Bawku Central, Zebilla,Pusiga, Binduri and Navrongo Central Constituencies.

The tour forms part of intensive commencement of campaign duties for the party to retain power in the December 7 parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Regional Women’s Wing, supporters and sympathisers of the party amid music and dance with others on their motorbikes ushered her into the Bolgatanga Municipality.

Addressing the crowd, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who doubles as the Minister for Communications, expressed her appreciation and commended the people for their unflinching and overwhelming support to the NPP.

She urged them to remain steadfast in the party’s quest to win more parliamentary seats and increase the electoral fortunes in the region.

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She tasked the youth to help spread the NPP’s message and ensure they emerge victorious come December 7.

Reports indicate that the deceased, Raymond Atia, was found hanging on a Neem tree on Thursday few kilometres away from the school.

Confirming the incident in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Assembly Member for the Tanzui-Zorbisi-Sokabisi Electoral Area, Adongo Stephen, explained some residents informed him about the incident.

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“I rushed to the scene fter a distress call from some residents and it was true so I informed the headmistress of BOGISS where the deceased worked before I proceeded to the Bolga police station to inform the police.

“I came with the police to the crime scene; they saw what happened and removed the body from the tree to the mortuary. We have to tell his family for the necessary actions to be taken,” he said.

Though it is not clear what might have triggered the action, an ADB Bank cheque booklet, a mobile phone and motor keys were reportedly retrieved from him.

A team from the Bolgatanga Police Homicide Unit conveyed the body to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital mortuary.