A bloody clash on Saturday evening left four persons dead with others disserting their homes at a farming community called Dedeso near Begoro in Fanteakwa North District in the Eastern region.
The Saturday June 26, 2021 incident witnessed a violent clashes between residents and some armed men who allegedly invaded the community on board a Kia Bongo truck with registration number GW 551-21 and a motorbike with one-armed police escort. The armed men were said to be acting on the others of the acting Chief of Begoro, Osabarima Ayirepe II.
The incident started when the Chief and his men together with the police officer went to a disputed land at Pertiefoo near Dedeso. On the orders of the chief, the armed men allegedly started assaulting some farmers on the land which triggered a violent defence by the community members leading to a bloody clash.
Sensing imminent danger, the police officer and the chief fled to Dedeso police station to seek refuge. The reinforcement team from the Begoro District Police command quickly proceeded to the scene to restore calm.
Some members of the armed group following the chief were found to have sustained serious wounds as well as some members of the community.
Assembly Member for Dedeso, Randolph Nii Tetteh told Starr News, monitored by Mynewsafric.com that tensions are still high in the community after information reached them that, the chief has remobilized armed thugs to relaunch an attack on the community.
Begoro District Police Commander, ASP Aboagye Duffuor confirmed the incident stating that investigations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh, says calm has been restored but the police are still on the ground for sustainable peace.
Settler communities around Dedeso -Wirako have for some time now been agitating over an attempt by the Begoro Traditional Council to dispose them off the state-acquired land on which they live and farm for livelihood.
The construction of Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam in 1961 inevitably created the Volta Lake which displaced 730 villages with a total population of 80,000 people.
These displaced people were relocated and resettled by the state in fifty-two (52) townships spread over four (4) regions of the country; namely Volta, Oti, Eastern, Bono East, Northern and Savannah Regions and covering seventeen (20) districts of the country.
However, after over 50 years of resettlement, chiefs and elders of Dedeso Wirako Resettlement community say, their 8,700.24Km land acquired by the government of Ghana in 1969 by Executive Instrument (EI.54) for the resettled families for agricultural purposes are being taken away from them by the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council.
The agitating residents say the Chief Osabarima Bosompem Ayirepe II claim the lands belong to Akyem Abuakwa since Osagyefuo Dr Kwame Nkrumah did not pay compensation for the lands acquired.
More on this developing story soon…
