General News of Saturday, 26 November 2011

Source: Emmanuel Opoku, Bibiani

Serial Killings Resurface

KINGSLEY ABOAGYE Gyedu, the 2012 parliamentary candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Bibiani-Ahnwiaso-Bekwai constituency of the Western region, has noted that the constituents are currently living in fear because of the purported serial killings that has hit the area recently.

According to him, the situation had created anxiety amongst the people, alleging that the authorities seemed not to care about the unfortunate happenings in the area.

He disclosed that about three unidentified persons, comprising two ladies and a gentleman, had so far been found dead in different parts of the constituency within the past two weeks.

Mr. Gyedu said it was realized that the private parts of some of the dead bodies were removed, giving room for speculation that some people might have killed them for “juju” or blood money.

He said it was disturbing that up till now, no arrest had been made.

Speaking to Daily Guide in an interview at Bibiani, the aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) mentioned that apart from the alleged serial killings in the area, there was also an upsurge in highway robbery in the constituency, particularly, on the Ahnwiaso-Awaso and Subrim Nkwanta-Nambro highways.

“The people here are now living in total fear and most of them have to sleep before 7pm for fear of being captured and killed,” he added.

The aspiring MP wondered whether President Mills meant it when he declared during his swearing-in ceremony that he would ensure that all Ghanaians lived in total security. He then called on national security to intervene in order to curb the killings.

He noted that the Bibiani-Ahnwiaso-Bekwai was the only constituency among the five constituencies in the northern part of the Western region that had developed in terms of infrastructural projects as compared to those in the Sefwi area.

Mr. Gyedu also attributed the area’s development to the fact that the people had been consistently voting for the NPP, and the party had also kept faith with the constituents.

He wondered why the people in the Sefwi area continued to vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and yet those areas were still undeveloped even when the NDC was in power.

He alleged that the NDC had realized that whether the government developed the Sefwi area or not, the people would still vote for them, which according to Mr. Gyedu, should not be the case.

“About two-thirds of the total votes of the NDC in the Western region come from the Sefwi area, and yet not even one person from the region is a cabinet member in the current NDC government.

“The situation is even worse now that we have someone from Sefwi Wiawso, Paul Evans Aidoo, as the regional minister, in that, there is nothing good taking place in the area and I know that all the major infrastructure projects in Sefwi now, were carried out by the NPP government,” he said.

He pointed out that the only way the people in the Sefwi area could see improvement in their living standard was to have a change of mind and vote for the NPP, which was development oriented.