Chaos At Akuse

There have been reported clashes between some youth of Lower Manya, in the Eastern region and some other youth from Osudoku area of the Greater Accra region, at Akuse, in the Eastern region over the weekend.

This happened when the youth of Manya, led by some of their sub chiefs, attempted to celebrate the June 13 Supreme Court ruling which confirmed that the disputed town of Akuse was legally part of the Lower Manya municipality in the Eastern region.

The youth from Manya in a long convoy of vehicles on Saturday, moved to Akuse to celebrate what they described as ‘victory’ for the people of Manya, after the Supreme court’s ruling, but some of the youth from the Osudoku area who got wind of the intended celebrations mounted road blocks in the town resulting in the reported clashes.

The Akuse police, with reinforcement from Akosombo, moved in quickly to defuse the tension.

The divisional commander of Akosombo, Chief Superintendent Amo Ayisi, told DAILY GUIDE that there had been tensions in the town during the morning after pockets of youth from the Osudoku area mounted road blocks, but the police had been able to restore order.

According to the divisional commander, the police heard about the intended celebration by the people of Lower Manya, and therefore moved in quickly to prevent them from going ahead with the celebrations since that would have been considered provocative.

He said the police closed the barrier at the outskirts of the town to prevent the Lower Manya youth from entry, but, upon reaching there in a convoy of vehicles, the Manya youth clashed with the police at the barrier.

The Chief Superintendent said looking at the rising tension with the youth who were bent on entering the town for the celebrations, the police had no choice than allow them to enter the town to avoid any nasty clashes between them and the police.

He said the police decided to provide security for them and as a result they were able to undertake a successful celebration without any clashes, even though, some youth from Osudoku had mounted unauthorized road blocks which had been cleared by the police.

He said there was absolute calm at Akuse after the successful celebration by the people of Lower Manya on Saturday.

Earlier, the police had arrested some people during the registration of voters in the area, after the Electoral Commission (EC) had given a go-ahead for the registration of eligible voters who could not register during the nationwide registration exercise.

According to DSP Douglas Kumah, the Akuse District Police Commander together with the police was able to arrest six of the alleged troublemakers, while the others escaped.

Those arrested included Kwabla Amoako, 40; Emmanuel Tetteh, 36; Haruna Tetteh, 31; Aziator Tetteh, 46; Ernest Tamatey, 41 and Isaac Tetteh, 34.