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Stakeholders meeting organised by the Brong-Ahafo Regional Peace Council to resolve the political impasse between supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Sankore in the Asunafo South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region last Tuesday ended in confusion.

The council’s scheduled meeting with key stakeholders at Goaso in the Asunafo North Municipality was to uncover the hidden dynamics to the chronic political violence in the Asunafo South District.
 
Since 2007, political tension at Sankore and its surrounding communities has left four people dead and many others injured.

The meeting was, therefore, aimed at engaging the key stakeholders in the area to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Confusion  

Confusion rocked the council meeting when some NPP youth at Sankore stormed the Goaso Municipal Assembly Hall and started chanting that without the presence of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Mr Eric Opoku, they would not allow the meeting to proceed.

They also stated that they would not allow one Malam Salia, who they accused of being the brain behind the perpetration of violence by NDC supporters in the area, to participate in the meeting.

It took police men some minutes to control the aggrieved youth who threatened to teach Malam Salia a lesson.

Through the intervention of the few police officers, Malam Salia was safely escorted out of the Assembly Hall to Sankore.

The youth also seized the keys of a Mahindra Pickup with registration number CR 1146-15, which belongs to the NDC. 

Political violence

According to them, it is unfortunate that the Peace Council never organised any meeting to ensure peace when the NDC was in government and there were political clashes that led to the death of four people, so they did not understand why the council now wants to stop them from retaliating.

Information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicates that the NPP youth again stormed the Kukuom National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Office to take over the office.

Danger looms at Sankore

The Omanhene of Sankore, Ogyedom Appiah Kubi Paabo Katakyie IV, said before the meeting was called off, information gathered at Sankore and its environs indicated that if measures were not put in place, there would be another serious clash between the two parties.

He has, therefore, called on both the police and the military command in the region to immediately deploy more officers to prevent political clashes in the area.

Peace Council

The Executive Secretary of the Brong Ahafo Regional Peace Council, Alhaji Suallah Abdullah Quandah, told the Daily Graphic that he was not surprised about what happened at the meeting.

He added that the council still had confidence and hope that they would be able to solve the problem between the two political parties in the area.