Re-arrest Old Tafo rioters - Kumasi Traditional Council

Asokore Mamponghene, Nana Boakye Ansah Debrah

The Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) has expressed its displeasure at the decision of the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to release the suspects arrested during the riots that occurred at Old Tafo about a fortnight ago. The decision, according to the traditional council, was not the best and would not lead to the needed peace and be a lasting solution to the problem. According to the members of the council, the perpetrators of the riots can not be allowed to walk freely in the name of peace while the victims whined over their losses. The chiefs expressed their concern when the REGSEC met the KTC to brief it on the incident and the committee’s plan of action. The meeting, which was at the instance of the KTC, was chaired by the Asokore Mamponghene, Nana Boakye Ansah Debrah.

The chiefs, one after another, accused the police of deliberately allowing the situation to escalate without acting. They wondered why the police did not do anything when they got to the scene but looked on as the youth went on rampage, vandalising people’s properties, while the police waited for the military to arrive on the scene before acting.

The chiefs, who sounded very angry, did not hide their displeasure at the action of the REGSEC and demanded to know who would bear the cost of the damage caused by the rioters. According to them, their patience was running out at the continued disrespect of traditional rulers by settlers on their lands. They said they were under immense stress trying to restrain the youth who were prepared to defend their lands and chiefs and asked the security agencies to do well to bring the perpetrators to book.

Short of ordering the REGSEC, the chiefs demanded that the suspects picked up during the riot be rearrested and made to face the full rigours of the law to serve as a deterrent to others. According to them, what happened was purely a land issue and should be treated as such and not as an ethnic or religious conflict.

About a fortnight ago, violence broke out between the traditional authorities of Old Tafo and the Muslim youth there over a disagreement over the erection of a fence wall around the Muslim cemetery. The violence led to the death of Sulema Hamisu and the destruction of properties running into thousands of Ghana cedis. Following the clash, the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usman Nuhu Sharabutu, together with the National Peace Council, brokered a deal for the release of the suspects who had been arrested by the police.