Security Consultant Richard Kumadoe has raised concerns over the misuse of traditional festival platforms in Ghana to settle personal scores, often with deadly consequences.
His remarks followed the tragic death of Fatima, a second-year student at Bimbilla Senior High School, who was killed by a stray bullet during the annual Fire Festival in Bimbilla, Nanumba North Municipality in the Northern Region.
The incident occurred as a crowd moved in procession from the regent's palace to Wampu Dam, where festival rituals were expected to take place on July 6.
Speaking in an interview on TV3, Mr Kumadoe shared his concerns, calling for urgent reforms in arms control and festival security. "Traditional festivals have become vulnerable grounds where people want to settle scores," he said. "The traditional authorities and the particular chiefs in general have no control over those who come there with those arms, let alone the types of arms they will want them to possess." He linked the presence of deadly weapons at festivals and funerals to a lack of oversight in arms licensing and control. "There are certain categories of individuals in this country whose official business is to import arms into Ghana as a legitimate business.
