There is tension in the Eastern Region town of Yilo Krobo following a dispute between two families over the right to enstool a new chief.
The chief of the town, Nene Azaa, who passed away was buried two weeks ago necessitating the installation of his successor.
But there is a raging conflict over which royal house has the legitimacy to do so.
A local reporter, Bennet Yaovi, told Citi News that a faction which claimed to be the rightful heir to the stool commenced processes to install a new chief, but were confronted by the other faction.
Eastern Regional Operations Director for the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kartey Otumi, in an interview on Eyewitness News confirmed the incident.
“We are informed that there are two chieftaincy factions in the Yilo krobo traditional Area and it was time for their festival and one faction whose chief is known here, had already launched the festival and we are told to that the Queen mother of the area who is opposed to the other chief, was also going to launch another one and our intelligence gathered indicated that there was going to be a clash and we mobilized and came here in the morning.”
“And when we came, it was true that the queen mother was preparing to launch, but sensing danger the local police being the district commander who received their letter earlier on advised them that intelligence gathered showed that there would be some clashes so it will not be prudent to go ahead with the launch as planned, so they intended doing it at the Lorry park which we disapproved of.”
DSP Kartey Otumi however denied media reports that his men were unable to avert the clashes between the two camps.
He explained that although they had intelligence about the possibility of the clashes, the police personnel present could not have used force to dispel the crowd.
He was however of the view the police ‘did their best’ to prevent the clashes.
“We were not standing aloof, what we go there for is to make sure that the clash is averted due to the intelligence that we gathered. We can’t use force, we can only go to court to stop…. We did our best to avert that clash.”
DSP Kartey Otumi said there were no injuries from the clash, although some persons had been arrested.
“I understand they went to do it at the community center and even there was a clash and we arrested some people… As police, we are not dealing with any chief. There was no injury to any person. There were two incidents because there was another installation going on that was being opposed.”
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By: citinewsroom.com/Ghana
