The chief urged police not to fail in their duties to punish wrongdoers in order to forestall chaos.
According to him, people who were involved in previous acts of vandalism had not been made to face the law and that was an incentive for more people in the Zongo community to perpetrate crime.
“I think they should arrest people and punish them to send a message that there are laws to put an end to the impunity,” he told Prince Minkah on the Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday August 3.
Over 150 youth from Tafo in Kumasi on Tuesday August 2 besieged the chief’s palace demanding guns for self-protection.
According to them, some youth from the Zongo community in the area had been threatening them and trying to spark fresh conflict in the area.
The youth have, therefore, called on Nana Agyen Frimpong II and his elders as well as the security agencies to help resolve the festering disagreement once and for all.
The latest move by the youth was in response to an attack on a man the previous weekend allegedly by Zongo people. The victim was treated at the hospital and discharged later.
According to the Zongo chief, “Security must move in fast, investigate, and settle the matter.”
In February this year, tensions over a piece of cemetery land in the town resulted in the destruction of several properties and the loss of one life.
After months of curfew in the town, the chair of the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC), John Alexander Ackon, told Class News on Thursday April 21 that security agencies were confident that peace had been restored to the town and, therefore, lifted the curfew.
But the Zongo chief said: “Some take advantage of the pending cemetery issue to settle personal scores.
“What we heard was that the gentleman (assault victim) met some people who were having broken bottles and they assaulted him. Nobody knows what really happened prior to the attack,” he explained.
On the issue with the cemetery, he indicated that the Zongo youth believed they were being harassed because the place of burial belonged to them and the indigenes wanted to take the land from them. “But that is wrong,” the Muslim chief noted, adding that the cemetery land was given to the Muslims out of the benevolence of the Tafohene generations ago.
“Nobody came to Ashanti with land. I am an immigrant,” he said.
“The youth think the land has been purchased. A committee was set up some time ago to look into the issue. They should come out [and report their findings] so people know who owns the land.”
Meanwhile, he has indicated that there would be a meeting at the Central Mosque involving all the chiefs of the various tribes and groups to deliberate on the issue and warned the youth to refrain from violence.
“No need going violent. Violence does not bring anything good,” he added.
Source: ClassFMonline.com
