UniBank Pledges Support Towards Lasting Peace in Dagbon

The Management and Board of Directors of UniBank Ghana Limited has pledged their support towards bringing a lasting peace to Dagbon as well as the entire Northern Ghana.

According to the Management and Board of Directors of UniBank, they are interested in anything that will contribute to the unity and peace of citizens of the North particularly factions involved in the protracted Dagbon Chieftaincy dispute.

The Branch Manager of UniBank Tamale Sualisu Alidu Mahama made this statement when he presented a dummy cheque of GH¢10,000.00 to the Regent of Dagbon and Elders of the Dagbon Traditional Council at the Gbewaa Palace in Yendi. 

The presentation of the cheque which was done on behalf of the Management and Board of Directors of UniBank was a donation towards the celebration of this year’s Damba Festival which began on Monday January 13^th and is expected to climax on Sunday January 19^th 2013 at the Gbewaa Palace.

“We are here on behalf of our founder, the entire Board and the Management of the Bank to do a unique presentation to the Dagbon Traditional Council towards this year’s unique Damba Festival.

Indeed, we at UniBank, anything that unites the people is our passion. ... And we believe that Damba is a festival that unites the people because it is celebrated throughout the whole of Northern Region. And as we all know, Dagbon is yearning for peace”, Mr. Mahama said as he presented the cheque to the Regent of Dagbon. 

Mr. Mahama continued:  “I have been asked to seek permission and to plead that, whatever that he (Regent) and his elders will do that will lead to the final peace in the whole of the north, UniBank is interested to partner” he emphasised.

Kampakuya-Na (L) Receives cheque From UniBank Manager, Tamale  (R)

In his response to the gesture by UniBank, the Regent of Dagbon Kampakuya-Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani thanked the Management and Board of Directors of the bank for helping him and his Council of Elders to realise their dream of bringing peace and development to Dagbon.

According to him, without peace, development in the form of quality education, healthcare, job creation among others will not come; and appealed to all sons and daughters of Dagbon to join him in unison to make this year’s celebration of the Damba festival a success. 

Meanwhile, ahead of the celebration of this year’s Damba, the two factions in the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute, Abudu and Andani Royal Families at a meeting organised by the Northern Regional Security Council in Tamale a fortnight ago, jointly issued a communiqué to announce their preparedness to celebrate the event together at the Gbewaa Palace.

The gesture, which has been praised by government and independent peace brokers is considered unprecedented, because that will be the first time the two factions have come together for a common purpose ever since the demise of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II and forty others in that regrettable conflict at the Gbewaa Palace. 

The Damba festival is celebrated under the lunar calendar by the chiefs and people of Dagbon, Mamprugu, Gonjaland, Mamprugu, Nanumba and Wa in the Northern and Upper West Regions.

The significance of the festival is to commemorate the birthday of the Holy Prophet Mohammed of Islam. Activities marking the weeklong celebration include prayers and fasting as well as procession of chiefs on horseback, amidst drumming and dancing.

Originally linked to Islam to mark the birth of Prophet Mohammed, the festival has gradually taken on a traditional rather than Islamic tone because one of the former Ya-Na, Naa Gariba is said have converted into Islam on the birthday of the Prophet, hence a tradition by Dagombas as well as descendants of the Mole-Dagbani ethnic group to always commemorate the day.