The Paramount Chiefs and Queen Mothers of Nkonya and Alavanyo in the Volta Region, have described as unfair the Regional House of Chiefs’ decision to suspend them indefinitely for failing to address the recurring conflict between the two towns.
According to them, the Chiefs cannot be held responsible for the recurring conflict.
The Volta Regional House of Chiefs announced on Thursday that it had suspended indefinitely, the Paramount Chiefs and Queen Mothers of Nkonya and Alavanyo for their inability to maintain peace between the two traditional areas, following a shooting incident that left two people dead on Wednesday.
The President of the House of Chiefs, Nana Soglo Alloh, who confirmed the suspension to Citi News, explained that, the House of Chiefs took the decision because they were not happy with developments in those areas.
“We are saying that, as far as we are concerned, even though we are not blaming them for their direct involvement, we think they have a responsibility of bringing peace in their traditional areas,” he said.
But the Queenmother of Alavanyo, Mamaga Amertor II, told Citi News in a separate interview that, the shooting incident was unrelated to the conflict between the two towns.
“I don’t know how they are doing that because this is not a conflict. This is a criminal act and a criminal act is committed by individuals and not the chiefs. The chiefs are not in the town. When the chiefs are usually in the palace and somebody commits a criminal act, why should the chief by punished? This is not a fight between Nkonya and Alavanyo.”
“Some individuals are doing this, so why should the chief be punished for that. This is a community issue. Over 2,000 people under your umbrella and one person is doing something criminal, would you identify that this is the person? This is different from a conflict. We’ve left the conflict behind us so why should there be attacks?” she quizzed.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Nkonya-Ahundwo, Nanai Ampen-Darkoh III, has charged the Police to arrest the culprits responsible for the recent shooting, instead of blaming the traditional authorities.
“If for any reason, part of what happened last Wednesday, the people are taking that decision, it sounds funny to me. I think it is the police that rather must be entreated to do their investigations because for me I see it as something criminal… It is not an area anywhere near the disputed land, this happened far away from the disputed land,” he noted.
Nkonya killings will be treated as a criminal matter – Minister
Meanwhile, the Volta Regional Security Council has said it will handle the recent killing of the two persons at Nkonya Zongo on Wednesday evening as a criminal matter.
During a media briefing on Thursday, the Volta Regional Minister and Chairman of the Council, Dr. Archibald Letsa, sought to in the meantime, isolate the killings from the long-standing land dispute between the Alavanyo and Nkonya communities.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
