The Rampant Market Fires – ‘Kukula’ Must Be Consulted

The rate at which major markets and other companies and private homes in the country are razed by fires in recent time is very alarming.

The problem has generated a lot of discussions and steps are being taken to address the menace caused by these fires. The market fires have undoubtedly rendered market women hopeless and penniless, a situation, which have become an albatross on the neck of government and has therefore set aside a GH¢2.00 million fund to help the women.

The President of the land and other Ghanaians, who think like him, had raised eyebrows – He has not ruled out arson in the fires and has since invited experts from the United States to help unravel the ghastly calamities befalling the nation.

President Mahama may be right or wrong for suspecting arson in the fires but as much as the country is seeking solution to arrest the situation and as one sympathises with the market women for their losses, a traditional chief has also suggested that it would not be out of place to also point fingers at “Kukula”.

Kukula is a mystery wealth making river in Kayoro near Navrongo. The name has become a household name among the people of the Upper East Region and specifically, Navongo, Paga, Chiana and Kayoro. It is not unusual to associate mythologies between man and Kukula, which dates back to many many years.

My interactions with the people, especially at Kayoro, showed that prospective wealth seekers over the years had found blessings in various forms from Kukula. When Kukula blesses you or meets your needs, you have to offer to Kukula in return for the favour(s) shown to you. Once you have gone to Kukula to sacrifice and pledge for wealth, you are indebted to the river and one must not fail to pay back whatsoever since the consequences that follow are grave.

So, Kukula like the IMF and the World Bank, debts come with conditionalities. Kukula is referred as a river whose debts are not defaulted.

So why must a chief attribute Kukula to the recent upsurge in market fires? Many people, especially business women usually referred to as Makola queens from the southern sector of the country throng Kukula on yearly basis to enter into tabernacle agreement for wealth.

Other people from neighbouring countries also visit this small mystery river. Barren women go there, politicians are not left out, visa seekers visit Kukula. In fact, the indigenes believe Kukula receives visitors with varying problems to be solved with the exception of helping to kill a human being.

If a Kassena man asks you, “Are you Kukula”, it implies that you are someone who never forgives or pardons people who owe. In short Kukula like the Shakespearean Sherlock would always demand its pound of flesh without any compromise if one fails to pay back.

The Paramount Chief of the Kayoro Traditional Area, Pe Oscar A. Tiyiamo, is the priest that performs sacrifices on behalf of all who visit Kukula. As the custodian of the river, he said, the recent market fires can wholly or partly be attributed to Kukula.

In his explanation, he said, if there were women or business persons who had consulted Kukula in the past and failed to come back to fulfil their part of the bargain, then Kukula could use the fires as means of retrieving what it had been promised.

He said the river had so many ways of retrieving its debts and fire is not left out. “Kukula does not forgive those who owe it and its debts do not go unpaid.”

Over thousand market women throng Kukula yearly to seek monetary and other favours, he said, adding “women come for sacrifices to get married and give birth and wealth, men come seeking wealth and promotions at work while others come to pray to Kukula to get visas to travel abroad.”

According to him, so many people who come to Kukula for favours failed to come back to honour their part of the bargain and added: “no matter the geographical location of defaulters Kukula will follow up to demand its pound of flesh.”

He said all those who had ever visited Kukula should go back to fulfill their part of the agreement since their actions or inactions could bring untold calamities to the country that will affect innocent persons.

If the explanation of the chief is anything to go by, then there is the need to actually consult Kukula and to appease the river to halt the rampant fires in markets and offices. Past visitors of Kukula must remember to go back and pay what they owed.

Yes, we can suspect arson, but all avenues including paying debts owed to Kukula must not be ruled out.

Source: Caesar Abagali/GNA