Bawku Municipal District is one of the fifteen districts in

Upper East Region The Upper East Region is located in the northern part of Ghana and it is the third smallest of the 16 administrative regions in Ghana. It occupies a total land surface of 8,842 square kilometers, or 2.7% of the total land area of Ghana. The reg ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988 when it was known as Bawku East District; which was established by Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 1439, until the southern part of the district was split off by a decree of president

John Agyekum Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the tenth president of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. He was the fifth chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008 and his victory over John Atta Mills at t ...

in August 2004 to create Garu-Tempane District; thus the remaining part was elevated to municipal district assembly status on the same year to become Bawku Municipal District. However, on 28 June 2012, two parts of the district were later split off to create Binduri District (from the west) and Pusiga District (from the east) respectively; thus the remaining part has been retained as Bawku Municipal District. The municipality is located in the eastern part of Upper East Region and has

Bawku Bawku is a town and is the capital of the Bawku Municipal District, district in the Upper East Region, Upper East region of north Ghana, adjacent to the Burkina Faso–Ghana border, border with Burkina Faso. It is located approximately between ...

as its capital town.

Demographics

The population of Bawku Municipal District, according to the 2021 population census stands at 119,458. Males constitute 48.0 percent and females represent 52.0 percent. 36.4 percent of the population is rural and 63.6 percent is urban. It shares boundaries with Pusiga District to the north, Binduri District to the south, Garu-Tempane District to the east and

Bawku West District Bawku West District is one of the fifteen districts in Upper East Region, Ghana. Originally created as an ordinary district assembly in 1988; which was established by Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 1442. The municipality is located in the eastern ...

to the west. The Kusasis are believed to be the first known settlers in the area. The other tribes in the area are the Bisas,Mossi, Mamprusis,Hausas etc. who are settlers. There are however large immigrant populations from other locations in northern and southern Ghana as well as from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Niger and Nigeria. Of the population 11 years and above, 47.8% are literate and 52.2% are nonliterate. The proportion of literate males is higher (57.6%) than that of females (39.3%).

Economy

Agriculture is the dominant occupation of the people of the municipality, accounting for about 47.0 percent of the total occupation in the municipality. The major crops grown are millet,

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, maize, rice,

groundnut Groundnut may refer to: * Seeds that ripen underground, of the following plants, all in the Faboideae subfamily of the legumes: ** ''Arachis hypogaea'', the peanut ** '' Arachis villosulicarpa'', a perennial peanut species ** ''Vigna subterranea'' ...

s, leafy vegetables, potatoes, groundnuts, pepper, watermelon, and onion. Livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys etc. are also kept in the district.

Festivals

The main festival celebrated in the district is the Samanpiid which is celebrated by the Kusaasi people. Other festivals celebrated by other communities are the Zekula by the

Bisa people Bisa or BISA may refer to: * Bisa (name), list of people with the name * Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy * A Swedish nickname for the name Tobias * The Bissa people tribe of Burkina Faso or their language, both sometimes spelled "Bisa" * A su ...

and Buud-Yelle by the Mossi people.

Administrative divisions

The district contains the following towns and villages. Of note are:

Gallery

File:Bawku Landscape in the Rainy Season.jpg, Bawku Landscape in the Rainy Season File:Work on the Yendi-Bawku Road. 1953.jpg, Work on the Yendi-Bawku Road. 1953

Sources

References

{{coord, 11, 3, 14.76, N, 0, 14, 18.6, W, region:GH, display=title Districts of Upper East Region Districts of Ghana