Police arrest nine in connection with Sunday's disturbance at Mim

Mim (B/A), April 12, GNA - Nine persons have so far been arrested in connection with Sunday's disturbance at Mim in the Asunafo North district of Brong-Ahafo which left five people wounded.

Mr. Kwaku Ayesu Opare-Addo, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) who is Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Commander, disclosing this on Wednesday said the suspects were being kept in police custody. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in connection with the disturbance on telephone, he said he was out of the region at the time of the disturbance and was now studying the report on it.

Five people sustained cutlass and gunshot wounds in an attack after undertaking communal labour to clear the bush behind Mim paramount chief's palace which was being used as a hideout by some miscreants to terrorise people, especially at night.

The five, Augustine Appau, Kwasi Yeboah, Richmond Peprah and Acheampong sustained cutlass wounds while Abeiku received gunshot wounds and were treated and discharged at the Mim and Goaso hospitals. Shedding light on the disturbance, Mr Yaw Ntim, the unit committee chairman for Dome 'B' electoral area, said following complaints that some people were using the bush behind the Omanhene's palace to terrorise people, he organized communal labour on Sunday to clear the bush.

He said after the work, a group of people believed to be among those using the bush for their nefarious activities organized themselves and armed with cutlasses and guns attacked people they perceived to be his close associates and others who took part in the communal labour. The attack Mr Ntim said, left five people with cutlass and gunshot wounds and had to be rushed to the Mim and Goaso hospitals for treatment.

Meanwhile, Okofobour Dr Yaw Agyei II, Omanhene of the Mim traditional area, has called on the Brong-Ahafo Regional Security Committee to send police reinforcement to the town to ensure peace and order.

He said unless more police personnel were sent to the area to arrest the suspects, nobody can guarantee the safety of the people in the town.

Public reaction to the situation was that more policemen should be sent to the town to arrest the attackers and ensure peace, adding that the present situation was volatile and could generate into an uncontrollable communal violence.

Vulnerable women, widows acquire skills

Adidome, April 12, GNA - One hundred and ten vulnerable women including, Trokosi and widows ejected from their homes, have graduated after undertaking a three-month skills training in various vocations at the International Needs Vocational Training Centre (INVTC) at Adidome in the North Tongu-District.

International Needs, Ghana (ING) a non-governmental organization, which organised the training spent 450 million cedis in training materials, feeding and accommodation for the trainees and their children accompanying them.

Funds for the training were donated by the Australian Agency for International Development (AUSAID).

Aged between 18-60, from Akatsi, Dangbe East and West Ketu, North and South Tongu districts, they learned baking, confectionary, batik, tie and dye, soap and powder making and basic business skills. They also received supplementary tutorials in functional literacy, vegetable growing, widow's rights, constitutional rights and counselling on related traumatic emotional experiences.

The trainees took home 100 million cedis of resettlement items, including bags of flour and sugar, calico, bowls and pans, chemicals and dye among others to help them start their own businesses. Addressing the graduation ceremony, Rev. Walter Bimpong, Founder and Executive Director of ING, advised the participants to utilize their skills in view of the expensive nature of the programme. He noted that this was the fourth batch of the second phase of the Centre's intake within five years under the support of AUSAID. Rev. Bimpong said some beneficiaries had done so well to merit positions at the training centre as instructors.

He asked them to form working groups to benefit from micro-credit support to improve on their undertakings. Rev. Bimpong also advised them to discard negative cultural beliefs to forge ahead.

"Hard work pays and it is only those who work hard, succeed while those who fear tiredness fail," he stated.

Rev Bimpong said the one free meal a day per pupil programme the ING was running at basic schools it constructed at Amrahia in the Greater-Accra and Kebenu in the Volta Region would be replicated in other schools just completed at Agortorme and Kanuwloe in the Volta Region and Dovlogu in the Greater-Accra Region.

He said the NGO was constructing a cold room at INVTC to ease the storage problem being faced under the feeding programme while a guesthouse complex was also under construction to accommodate visitors. Madam Aretah Agbeyome, Principal of the Centre which was originally a Trokosi rehabilitation centre said their programmes had empowered several people as it gave them sources of income.