Chiefs in the troubled Banda town in the Brong Ahafo region have declared a one week ultimatum to architects of the xenophobic threats in the area, to own up or face severe sanctions.

Addressing a news conference Friday, the Paramount Chief of Banda Ahenkro Osabirima Okokyeredom Kwadjo Sito also appealed to the teachers and health workers who abandoned their post and fled the town for safety to return.

The unknown group calling itself the ‘Concerned Members of Banda Ahenkro’ had vowed to violently evict all workers who are not natives of the town. Through a notice to supposed strangers, the group said all foreigners working in the community must leave because their safety cannot be guaranteed.

According to the group, the strangers have taken over all their jobs and lands in town at the expense of natives.

The threats led to the closure of more than forty percent of schools in the area while hundreds of civil servants working in the community fled for fear of xenophobic attacks.

But Osabirima Okokyeredom Kwadjo Sito who condemned the development asked all civil servants who have fled to return.

He warned that the architects behind the threats will have themselves to blame if they fail to own up as soon as possible.

According to him, there will be severe consequences if members of the unknown group fail to show their faces.