Guns Blaze At Mpakadan

*As Fishing Company & Police Terrorise Citizens

By Livingstone Pay Charlie

The people of Mpakadan, a fishing community near Apeguso in the eastern region, are currently living in fear as armed security guards of a private fishing company continue to brutalise them on a daily basis.

The company, Tropo Farms, claims the people of Mpakadan have been trespassing on a stretch of the Volta Lake it has acquired from the Volta River Authority.

By this, the people of Mpakadan, mostly fishermen are prevented by the armed security guards of Tropo Farms from fishing on that stretch of the Lake.

This paper gathered that the people of Mpakadan have been fishing on the Lake since 1962 only for Tropo Farms to start harrassing them four years ago.

When this reporter was at Mpakadan a couple of weeks ago, private security guards of Tropo Farms were visibly seen wielding guns at the fringes of the concession. God was so good to this reporter and some fishermen when a gun-shot from one of the security guards narrowly missed them.

That was 2:00 a.m on April 18, 2009. Gabriel Avorgbedor and Robert Avorgbedor, all fishermen, were recently arrested by the security guards of Tropo Farms for trespassing on their “catchment area”. The two fishermen were stripped naked, taken to the Frankadua Police and put behind bars.

This paper gathered that their statements were taken by the police the next day. Chief fisherman, Mr. Eric Apetorgbor told The Insight that the action of Tropo Farms has taken away from them their daily bread..

“Fishing is our livelihood here. We have nothing here to do gain,” he said. Eric Apetorgbor said there have been no publicised information on the real boundaries of Tropo Farms' catchment area when the company began its activities in 2005. “We woke up one day to see a cage at our birthing place,” he added. The fishermen told this reporter that there was the talk of compensation but that did not materialise.

They also alleged that the police at Frankadua and Tropo Farms officials had sometime ago stormed the village and brutally assaulted residents who were against the operations of the fishing company.

Mpakadan village was created in 1962 to accommodate residents who were dislodged to pave way for the Akosombo hydro-elecricity project The community is made up of Ewes and Akwamus who have fairly co-existed for many years.

Tropo Farms (also known as Volta Catch) claims it acquired that stretch of the concession near Mpakadan from the Volta River Authority and the Chief of Agyinahene, another nearby community.

The concession of Tropo Farms extends over 5 square miles. A group of lawyers who recently visited the area was stunned at developments. “This is classical slavery. There is a culture of silence over here,” said lawyer Ocansey of Akwe Sihu Chambers, a Tema Community – 18 based law firm. He said the people of Mpakadan needed to be helped by the government and well-meaning Ghanaians to regain their freedom.

Lawyer Ocansey was shocked at the news that Tropo Farms had acquired a natural resource meant for all Ghanaians.

He said his group would research to get the documentation on the lease granted Tropo Farms, so as to know what kind of action to take legally. He appealed to the police to stop harassing the people. Meanwhile, both the Frankadua police and officials of Tropo Farms have refused to speak when contacted.