Trouble Brews in Kintampo

Chronicle's intelligence reports from Atta- Akuraa and Cheranda, both in the Kintampo district of the Brong Ahafo region, point to trouble looming at the two villages over the activities of some farmers at Cheranda who are blocking waterways of the main river serving the inhabitants of Atta-Akuraa, Dawada and other towns and villages along the Kintampo-Tamale trunk road.

Last year, the same issue came up, that gingered some angry youth at Atta-Akuraa to destroy the farmers' crops and cover their canals from the farms to the riverside.

Reasons for the looming trouble, Chronicle gathered are that some tomato farmers, most of them from Ashanti Region, precisely the Offinso district, are in Cheranda to cultivate tomatoes along the River Konya.

The farmers, according to a reliable source, block the waterways with sandbags and also dig canals about half a mile to the river to make the water flow through to their farms. This practice, last year, dried up the river, which had never dried up until then.

A resident at the village said, "we have to dig wells along the river before getting water," adding that "bees too would not spare us for fetching the well-water.

Our investigation established that last year the youth, after numerous complaints to the district assembly went to the farms and destroyed almost all the tomato crops and sealed off the canals because there was no feedback from the assembly. But the farmers did not take it kindly and therefore reported to the police.

To ensure peace, the District Security Committee (DISEC) detailed a police Inspector Yeboah and others to go to the farms and the river to ascertain the situation, Chronicle can reveal.

The farmers, the youth at Atta-Akuraa and the police went to the scene and later the police made a report to the DISEC about their findings.

In order for the farmers to reap what they have sown the DISEC had advised the Atta-Akuraa people to exercise restraint.

The DISEC, according to our investigation, also assured the people of Atta-Akuraa that the farmers would be stopped the following year (this year) from digging the canals, which dries up the river.

But to their surprise, as they told Chronicle, the farmers are springing up everywhere and still using sandbags to block the waterways from flowing to the down side of the river.

Chronicle's visit to the scene revealed that the canals are between five and six feet deep and about half to one mile long.

A tour to the downside of the river by this reporter indicated a possible famine waiting for the people within the months of March and April, this year.

When the district chief executive of Kintampo, Mr. James Kwabena Bomfeh, was contacted, he confirmed the unhealthy practice of the farmers by saying, "We warned them last year to desist from that method of farming.

He told Chronicle that he advised them to use water-pumping machines, instead of digging canals.

He however said he was surprised to hear them applying the same method this year too.

Mr. Bomfeh said this year no one had made a report to him about it. He assured Chronicle that he would invite the assemblyman to ascertain more facts about the situation before he can take any action.

Meanwhile, the Atta-Akuraa people have vowed to get rid of the farmers by whatever means appropriate to them. They also accused the chiefs at the area for taking monies from the farmers to allow them to embark on their destructive act.