Member of Parliament for Tafo-Pankrono Dr Anthony Akoto Osei has appealed to his constituents to maintain peace in the area as frantic efforts are made to permanently address seeming tensions between indigenes and their predominantly Muslim settlers, who reside in the ‘zongo’.
Tafo has been a hotbed of violence due to tensions between traditional authorities and members of the Zongo community over a piece of cemetery land. Clashes between the two factions a few months ago left one person dead and several properties torched.
Two weeks ago, over 150 youth besieged the palace of the Tafo chief, Nana Agyin Frimpong II, demanding guns for their personal protection. They claimed some members of the Zongo were threatening to harm them.
Some security analysts have called for security to be beefed up in the area to forestall fresh conflict.
Addressing constituents at a news conference on Thursday, 11 August, Dr Akoto Osei appealed to the residents to allow cool heads to prevail in the matter. “We are about four months away from holding general elections and I want to plead with all of you to let cool heads prevail and exercise restraint and patience while an amicable settlement is sought to end the impasse and bring unity of purpose to our community,” he stated.
“As your MP, I have been at the forefront of advocating and conferring with National Security and government throughout the onset of the impasse. I have not [shirked]…my role as your MP but it must be stated emphatically that I was not part of the government delegation at Tafo, in the early stages of the crisis, led by the Chief Imam. I was neither invited nor even informed but I have found time to see the chiefs including Nana Tafohene and Zongohene and we have had many constructive discussions on the crisis,” the lawmaker added.
Dr Akoto Osei emphasised that he had not abandoned his constituents, adding that issues concerning land were sensitive and belonged to the domain of the chief and, thus, needed to be handled with tact.
“…The grievances or the disturbances were on the cemetery land, which borders on chieftaincy and land ownership, a prerogative of the owners – that is the Tafohene and Asantehene, so it was a very sensitive matter for the MP not to meddle in. This explains why you’ve not heard from me. It should not, therefore, be construed that your MP was not doing what is expected of him, far from that. I have been working around in parliament and you will know what I have been doing,” he noted.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
