War drum beats at Kwabre East

When Nana Antwi Mensah Semprempeh III, the Omanhene of Kasaam, a community within the Kwabre East District in the Ashanti region, last Sunday entered the Emmanuel Methodist Church during their harvest, he was going to seek the face of God and to admonish the teeming angry people of the community to use tact in dealing with the tension that is nearing a blast up between Kasaman and the neighboring community, Domakwai.

"Beloved", he said, "I have come to ask you all to increase the rate at which you pray. When you are praying, ask Onyankropong Kwame to bestow on me the wisdom to be able to tackle the situation we find ourselves now, for we are faced with a critical situation from very powerful hands only He can rescue us".

He continued: "To the youth who are threatening an onslaught in Domakwai, I plead with you to hold your fire because violence cannot solve our problem. What we must do is to call the attention of Otumfuo Osei Tutu because it is in him all Asante lands are vested".

Nana Semprempeh III plea to the youth came on the back of chaos that erupted earlier on Saturday between residents of Kasaam and Dumakwa over the ownership of a piece of land currently serving as a football field for Methodist Primary and Junior High School.

The clash, which nearly turned bloody, hit the roof after irritated youths of Kassam, a predominantly Kente weaving community, demolished a building foundation on the football field and some amount of building blocks belonging to a woman developer who apparently had that portion sold to her by the Dumakwaihene some months back because he (Domakwai Odikro) believed that portion formed part of his lands.

They started arguing among themselves after which there ensued pushing and shouting which further resulted to the feud between the two communities.

Although the reason for ownership over that land comes top in the commotion, the irritated youth of Kasaam could not come to terms with the fact that there were so many unprocessed lands in the Dumankwa community and yet the chief could not find any, except for the only school park which serves as the community's football park.

The Assemblyman for the area, George Ofori Nantwi, as well as the Asonomaso Divisional Police commander confirmed the incident to this paper and added that it is not only the youth of Kassam that are fuming with rage but neighbouring communities are bracing up to join the onslaught on Domakwai for the huge blunder.

The issue, according to the assemblyman, has created disorder, thereby disturbing the peace of the communities.

Meanwhile, Kasaamhene together with his assemblyman and the irate youth are calling on Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to step in before tensions escalate.