'Abysmal security failure' caused Agbogbloshie feud – Ayine

Former Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine has said the conflict that erupted in Agbogbloshie between the Dagombas and Konkombas on Tuesday 11 April was as a result of the “abysmal failure” of the security services.

Dr Ayine, who was counsel for the people of Agbogbloshie in a suit against their eviction by government in 2003, noted that the security agencies must monitor such volatile areas consistently to avert future conflict.

“The failure on the part of our security agencies is in the fact that they do not monitor such volatile environment to be able to pick up intelligence that will make it possible for them to forestall disturbances and conflict that erupt as a result of interaction between groups in these slum areas,” the Bolgatanga East Member of Parliament said on Newsfile on Multi TV on Saturday 15 April.

He noted that there are a number of ethnic groups from the North and Volta Region settled in Agbogbloshie making the community an ethnic colony, for which “our security agencies need to keep an eye and then pick up intelligence on what is happening in these places in order the prevent conflict”.

According to Dr Ayine, “It doesn’t cost very much for the BNI to have two or three agents roaming around Agbogbloshie picking up intelligence about what is happening and making sure that if a conflict is going to erupt, they can prevent it. So I think that is the failure we need to address.”

Renewed clashes at Agbogbloshie between the Dagombas and Konkombas over a stolen mobile phone on Tuesday resulted in two deaths with several injured. Over 30 persons were displaced.

A total of five persons have been arrested and locally manufactured weapons were retrieved from some of the suspects.