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Police personnel stationed at Kwapong, a town near Sankore in the Asunafo District of the Brong Ahafo Region have been evacuated, following violence that erupted in the area, resulting in the death of three people.


The violence erupted after a 20-year-old young man, Frimpong Donkor was allegedly stabbed to death by a fetish priest identified as Efo Kojo at his shrine because of a misunderstanding.

An angry mob, made up of the youth armed with dangerous implements quickly stormed the police station where the suspect was being kept and demanded his release to them but the police refused.
The angry youth forcibly broke into the police station and brought the fetish priest out, and burned him to death.

Briefing The Ghanaian Times on the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Maxwell Atingane, Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, said the police had information that a fetish priest who hails from Togo had stabbed a 20-year-old boy to death in the early hours of Saturday.

Following this information, Mr. Atingane said the police arrested the suspect and placed him in custody for interrogation.

The Regional Commander said an hour later, an angry mob made up of the youth armed with dangerous implements, stormed the police station demanding the release of the fetish priest to them but the police refused to yield to their demand.

Mr. Atingane said the mob forcefully broke into the police station and took out the suspect and burned him to death.

DCOP Atingane said in the ensuing confusion, the Police fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse the mob and restore order, but the stray bullets hit two of the protesters, killing Kojo Wiafe, 27 and injuring one Salifu Kabore.

He said Kabore was currently on admission at the Sunyani Regional Hospital receiving treatment under police guard, while the bodies of Wiafe and the fetish priest had been deposited at the same hospital mortuary for autopsy.

The Regional Commander said the police were conducting investigations into why the fetish priest stabbed Frimpong Donkor.

DCOP Atingane said the Kwapong town had been notorious for vandalising police stations at the least provocation, adding that it took the intervention of opinion leaders in the area for a police station to be re-opened as the previous station was closed down by the police administration.

He said the police had mounted a search for the perpetrators believed to have fled into the bush.

Meanwhile, calm has returned to the town and the people are going about their normal activities.