Nkawie (Ash), Oct. 26, GNA - A 36-year-old farmer from Adankwame near Barekese in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District of Ashanti has been fined 600,000 cedis by the Nkawie Circuit Court for refusing to attend communal labour.

Kofi Agyekum pleaded guilty to the charge and was ordered by the court to pay 200,000 cedis out of the fine into the coffers of the Adankwame Unit Committee or in default serve four months imprisonment. Mr Austin Dubick, the Atwima-Nwabiagya District Assembly Prosecutor told the court presided over by Mr Noble Nkrumah that a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain was constructing a six-classroom block for the local junior secondary school (JSS).

He said as a result, the Adankwame Unit Committee had set aside every Tuesday for communal labour to support the project and that on one of such Tuesdays a gong-gong was beaten to summon the people to undertake the communal labour. Mr Dubick said Agyekum even though heard the gong-gong refused to attend the communal labour and was therefore asked to pay 30,000 cedis, which he failed to pay.

He said a report was made to the District Assembly and a summons was issued for his arrest.