Exploring Attempts at Judicial Resolution of the Nkonya-Alavanyo Communal Conflict in Ghana

What is it about?

Although there are a lot of references to litigation in the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict literature, the role of the legal tussle and related judgments in the intractability of the conflict remains deeply unexplored. Therefore, based on archival documents, mostly judicial, media reports and in-depth interviews, this article explores the trajectory of the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict in the Ghanaian judicial system. We contend that the judicial attempts at resolving the conflict have been ineffective because the resultant juridical discourse is polysemic and - to the extent that the non-negotiable value of justice is a factor in the conflict - is capable of divergent articulations. Second, we submit that, the juridical discourse competes with State, Civil Society, and partisan articulations that do not privilege juridical decisions, with State discourse increasingly being one of militarization.

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