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Residents of Vume and Tefle, who live close to the private residence of former President Jerry John Rawlings in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, are living in fear and panic as wild dogs of the former President terrorise them. The tall dogs numbering over six have been on a biting spree terrifying the residents. One person has already been arrested and spent three days in police detention for allegedly inflicting cutlass wounds on one of the dogs. The dogs stand about three feet tall and have a mixture of black and brown fur. They always stray to the river bank at Vume where the former President lives. Residents, who have fallen victim to the wild Alsatian dogs, say the experience is horrifying. The situation, which has lasted for over a year and half now, had left many residents both young and old with big bruises and scars while others still have difficulty in walking, DAILY GUIDE investigations have established. Residents told DAILY GUIDE that the dogs usually chase their victims whenever residents go close to the bank of the Volta River to swim, relax, wash or fetch water. The dogs chase and bite them when they come in contact with them or slip from the house. They abandon their basins, buckets and other belongings as they run for their lives when the dogs give them a hot chase. Some end up breaking their legs. Accounts A victim, Korku Tse told DAILY GUIDE that he was once surrounded by four of the wild dogs and that it took the timely intervention of a Good Samaritan, else, �I believe I would have been dead by now� the dogs are dangerous and need not be allowed to get close to human habitats.� Victims and residents have, therefore, called on the former President to either chain his dogs or relocate them to the Zoo to safeguard the lives of the people he once ruled. The issue of the dogs emerged after one Kwesi Banahene, who lives adjacent to the house of the former President, was arrested by Police last Wednesday, October 9, 2013 on suspicion of maiming one of the dogs. The incident, which took over the airwaves right from Wednesday through to the weekend, left many wondering how the well fortified residence of the former President could have been invaded with one of his dogs being maimed. Others also gave it a political twist, since the former President is the founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) while the suspect, Mr. Banahene, is a member of the council of elders for the opposition New Patriotic Party, NPP in the South Tongu Constituency. Mr Banahene who was arrested in connection with the dog issue sometime ago, told DAILY GUIDE that �it is a false allegation. Although I know the former President has wild dogs, I have no knowledge about the dog in question. I cannot even tell what kind of injury the dog has or its condition, whether dead or alive. In fact, I know nothing about the dog. What I know and is true is that the dogs are very wild and dangerous and everyone in this vicinity will bear me witness about how the dogs are terrorising us.� The police at Tefle could not substantiate the condition of the dog, as to whether it was injured or dead. He said �our wives and children are in more danger because it appears anytime they go to the riverside, which belongs to all of us, to wash or fetch water, the dogs are coincidentally released to inflict wounds on them. �Mr. Journalist, I am not saying this because I have been arrested oo; you can go round the entire Vume community and then Tefle and ask�this is the issue�it is no secret, this is what is happening,� he stressed. He added that, �I don�t want to believe that the former President who believes in justice, probity and accountability is aware of the havoc his dogs are causing and he has decided to be silent about it or do nothing about it. I just don�t want to believe that.� When DAILY GUIDE contacted the caretaker of Mr Rawlings� house whose name was only given as Koronko, he could not comment on the issue, asking us to rather speak to the former President himself or his spokesperson. He, therefore, directed the paper to the office of the former President in Accra. Several calls made to Kofi Adams, spokesperson to the former President, were unanswered. Follow up text messages were equally not replied. Fence Wall Investigations by DAILY GUIDE revealed that although the former President had extended a fence from his main house into the river, the dogs managed to escape through a portion of the fence which has grown weak. More so, they could swim to another side and haunt their victims. Indications were that residents in the area could not stop using the path around the former President�s house since all the paths that lead to the river are within that vicinity. Special Dogs Kwesi Banahene later recounted the events that he believed might have led to his arrest. He said three years ago the former President brought some �special dogs, I don�t think they are common in Ghana. �The dogs that were puppies by then were adorable, but just over a year; they grew in height and size and began to be dangerous. They started chasing our wives and children when they went to the riverside and bit them, while the unlucky ones broke their legs or sustained other injuries as they escaped the dogs,� he narrated. According to him, victims had to sometimes leave their bowls and other belongings to save themselves. About three months ago, one Nyefo Boni was bitten by the dogs. Mr Banahene claims his own sons took him (Nyefo) to the hospital and he (Banahene) personally took care of the bills. Aside from that, he said about a month ago, six of the dogs surrounded one of his sons, Mark Papa Banahene, indicating that �a few minutes after I had seen my son leaving to wash by the river, I heard the dogs barking so I rushed there only to find him trapped by the dogs. But for the timely intervention of Kordzo Votor, whose house was closer, my son could have been badly injured, if not dead.� Queenmother That, he said, prompted him to see his cousin, who happens to be the Queen Mother of Vume and a retired Deputy Superintendant of Police, Mama Adobea Aketse IV. Mr Banahene said he told Mama Adobea, who also happened to be a close friend of Mr Rawlings, �I don�t want to believe that the former President is aware of the injuries his dogs are inflicting on the people and he has refused to do something about it.� He, therefore, pleaded with her to speak to the former President to do something about the development in order to save lives and avoid a major disaster which could bring his name (Rawlings) into disrepute. However, the Queen Mother rather advised him to organise close neighbours to discuss the issue with Rawlings. According to Banahene two other neighbours, who had also fallen victim to the terror antics of the dogs, went to Rawlings� house and made a complaint to Rawlings�s driver. He said all the complaints yielded no positive result. Banahene lamented that he was rather arrested three weeks later. Morning Arrest That fateful morning of his arrest, Banahene said he was brushing his teeth when a red Toyota Tundra pickup truck pulled up in front of his house with four heavily armed officers, who asked him to follow them to the Police Headquarters which he initially refused because he said �I cannot go with them without the knowledge of the local Police Station at Tefle.� The policemen complied and reported him at the Tefle Police Station at 6:30am with a supposed charge of �cruelty against former President�s dog and other animals.� The details of the charge mentioned one Gladys Boafo, his cousin, as claiming that he (Banahene) barred her from allowing her chicks from straying into his house. Another complainant, Dorla Dope, his aunt is reported to have claimed that Mr. Banahene had poisoned her chicks who fed on his land. However, when DAILY GUIDE contacted the alleged accusers of Mr Banahene, they denied ever making those accusations to the police or any individual. They, therefore, expressed shock as to why the police would use them as baits to arrest Mr. Banahene over the former President�s dog. Interestingly, a day before Mr. Banahene�s arrest, the dogs were said to have attacked and bitten one Esther Amenyo, a 25-year-old lady, who had gone to wash at the river. She was said to have been subsequently rushed to the Comboni Hospital at Sogakofe by the driver and caretaker of the former President. They were then said to have given the lady GH�100.00 and visited her frequently thereafter. The lady, who was scared to show her face in a photograph, however, allowed a picture to be taken of her left thigh where she had a big wound treated with gentian violet. Stinking Cells Mr. Banahene, with the officers, arrived at the Police Headquarters at 10:30am where he stayed until 3:00pm when his statement was taken and later transferred to the Nima Police Station at 5:30pm and spent the night there. On Thursday, October 10, 2013, he was again taken to the Police Headquarters at 3:00pm where he was bailed at about 6:00pm. Mr. Banahene was expected to return to the Police Headquarters on Tuesday October 15, 2013, which happened to be the Sallah holiday.