Sampa chieftaincy dispute: Police, military move in to forestall reprisals

The Bono Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has moved a contingent of police and military personnel to forestall sporadic shootings and further reprisals at Sampa, a Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire border town in the Jaman North District of the Bono Region.

A clash erupted between supporters of the two feuding factions of a protracted chieftaincy dispute and left three people dead in the cashew-growing town on Good Friday.

The incident occurred in the evening, but the Ghana News Agency (GNA) learned that relative peace had since returned to the town.

Police had since deposited the bodies of the three young men, yet to be identified, at the Sampa Government Hospital for preservation.

Preliminary investigations conducted by the Jaman District Security Committee (DISEC) revealed that a violent clash erupted between the supporters of Nana Yaw Sammor-Duah, the Omanhene (paramount chief) of Sampa and Nana Samgba Gyafla II, the Sampahene (Sampa chief) over the payment of cashew revenue to the traditional council.

Solomon Owusu, the Jaman North District Chief Executive, and the Chairman of DISEC, said the payment of cashew royalties earmarked for the Traditional Council for development purposes had been a problem in the area for some time.

“The two chieftaincy factions and the cashew association even brought the issue to the DISEC, but it has been difficult to resolve for some time now,” he told the GNA in a telephone interview on Saturday.

Owusu explained that the incident started when supporters of one of the feuding factions, who were on a motorbike, allegedly went to the cashew association office in the town to present a letter to the association to recognise and pay the cashew revenue to their chief.

In the process, supporters of the other faction also arrived there, and a misunderstanding ensued between them, which resulted in sporadic shootings.

Owusu said the REGSEC and the DISEC “are fully on the ground” to avert any further reprisal and called on the residents to remain calm, assuring that “we are in absolute control of the situation”.