Akango/Adamus clash: Residents respond to police; call on government for support

Correspondence from Western Region

Some angry residents of the Akango community in the Evalue-Ajomoro Gwira Constituency of the Western Region have responded to the Ghana Police Service over the shooting and killing of one of their youth in a clash between the youth of the area and the Adamus Mining Company on Thursday, March 11, 2021.

After the incident, the Esiama Divisional Police Commander, ASP Dodzi Hlordzi told the media that: "The Adamus Mining Company which operates in the area on Tuesday were working and their excavator unfortunately damaged an electric pole belonging to the ECG which provides electricity to the Akango and this brought a black-out and the residents slept in darkness for continuous three days".

ACP Hlordzi stressed that: "When the youth found out that it was the Adamus Mining Company that has caused the blackout, the youth rushed to the company's site to ask them to resolve the problem for them and the Ellembelle District Police Command was informed and found out that the youth of Akango were not lying so the police together with the management of the company met the Chief, the youth and the Assembly Member of the community and the company pledged to fix the problem the next day that's Friday, March 12, 2021 and I and my team left the community".

He continued: "but nobody knows what happened again and later on the day, some angry youth of the community went to the site of the company to attack workers there and unleashed severe lashes on them and unfortunately the police at the site providing security for the workers were also beaten when they tried to control the situation".

He said the angry youth on the cause of their actions, seized two rifles belonging to the police and another attempt to seize a third rifle from the police at the site resulted in the death of the 26-year-old Adomkpaka Akulugu.

"These angry first seized two rifles from the police at the site and their next attempt to seize a third gun from the police there led to the death of one of the youth called Adomkpaka Akulugu from Bawku and he is 26 years old.

But reacting to the police's account, these residents of the Akango Community stated that the police had misled the public.

According to them, the Police Commander did not meet the community to assure them that the Adamus Mining Company would fix the problem the next day.

They said that they got assurance when they visited the site for the third time by a security officer.

On the issue of the seizure of the police riffles, the residents also claimed that they didn't seize any gun from the police.

"It is not true that we seized their riffles, what happened was that after they had shot our brother then they left their rifles on the ground and ran away so some of our youth also picked the two guns and sent it home", they explained.

"And when we went to their site after realizing they caused the light off in our community, we told them to fix our light for us and we chanted No road No work and to our surprise, the police came and we told them that the police should go because we want the Adamus to bring the ECG to fix our light for us and it was during this misunderstanding and I and some tried to leave the place and when we were going and I heard a gunshot and in fact we became afraid so we ran for our lives so it was later that we returned and saw that the gunshot hit one of us and killed him instantly so it never true that when we got to the site we started beating the police by seizing their riffles so the police are lying", one resident told GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent Daniel Kaku.

Our Western Regional Correspondent also observed that the Community and the Adamus Mining Company use the same trunk road and this, the residents complained bitterly about it.

"When you come to Akango here, Akango is a branch way and from Salman junction to our community, the road there is our road and the company came to meet it but they are using it and this is not acceptable, we always meet their heavy duty trucks on the road and if care is not taken, something could happen to us", one resident stated.

These angry residents took the opportunity to disclose to GhanaWeb that the company had denied them job opportunities and social amenities.

They, are therefore calling on government to come to their aid to help them to address the challenges facing them in the community.

"In fact, Adamus is not giving our youth work to do, when you go they will tell you to go and bring your certificate but meanwhile they are not willing to train us, our water system is not good, our health system is not good but the Adamus is not helping us, they have taken us for granted, they started beating us since 2010 and the police too is supporting them", one resident also stated.

He pleaded: "We are urging government to come to our aid by constructing our own road for us and also find justice for our brother who had lost his life because right now we are scared".

However, the remains of the Adomkpaka Akulugu has since been deposited at the Axim Government Hospital morgue for autopsy and preservation.

The family is expected to bury him (Adomkpaka Akulugu) on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at Akango.

The late 26-year-old Adomkpaka Akulugu left behind two kids and a wife called Rose Assuah.

Adomkpaka Akulugu came from Zebilla East Constituency of the Upper East Region but was born at Akango in the Evalue-Ajomoro of the Western Region.