General News of Friday, 22 December 2006

Source: Daily Guide

Soldiers Deployed To Wenchi

THE BRONG-Ahafo Regional Security Council has deployed a contingent of soldiers to the Wenchi township for peacekeeping.

This has become necessary, following a threat issued by a faction of the ongoing chieftaincy fracas, in an attempt to disrupt the programme of activities for Christmas drawn up by the Omanhene.

When Daily Guide visited the town, soldiers were seen patrolling the streets, and a football match which was organised by the traditional council as part of the programme was halted.

Nana Oseadeyo Abrefa Kwadwo Nketia VII and his elders had drawn a programme of activities for the Christmas season, which included a football match, cultural display, children’s party, among others.

When the programme was made known, a faction, involved in the chieftaincy dispute in Wenchi, threatened to cause mayhem if the Omanhene dared carry out the programme of activities.

A report was subsequently made to the REGSEC, which arranged an emergency meeting on Tuesday December 19, 2006, to deploy soldiers to the town to ensure there was peace.

In an interview with Daily Guide, Nana Nketia VII said as far as he was concerned, there was no threat to life, as the other faction wanted the world to believe.

He said it was his intention to use the occasion to bring the people together, for a meaningful development to take place, and added that the continued in-fighting and petty squabbles would not arguer well for them.

Opanin Kwadwo Manu, an elder of Wenchi, in an interview with Daily Guide noted that the time was ripe for Wenchi to acknowledge that even when they continued to fight among themselves, the country, as a whole, was moving forward.

He therefore advised them to eschew lawlessness and unite to develop the town.

He lamented that while Wenchi, the birth place of the late Prime Minister of Ghana, Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia was crying loudly for development, its citizens were always at one another’s throat.

Meanwhile, the town appears quiet and serene, and the people were going about their normal duties. Nonetheless, Daily Guide is monitoring the situation.

From Eric Bawah, Wenchi