Wala people

The Wala or Waala live in Upper West Region of Ghana. They are a predominantly Muslim people who are the founders of the city of Wa. They speak the Wali language, which belongs to the Gur group. There are 84,800 speakers of the language as of 2013. Their neighbors are the Birifor, Dagaaba, and Vagla peoples.

Their culture is similar to other Gur-speaking, Senoufo and Mande groups in northern Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali. They are known for their impressive Sudano-Sahelian style mosques and palaces. They are ruled by their traditional ruler, the Wa-Na whose traditional residence is a mud-brick built palace in Wa.