Kwabre East MP Wants Thorough Probe into Ahwiaa Youth Clashes

The Member of Parliament for Kwabre East, Francisca Oteng-Mensah, has demanded a thorough probe into the clashes between two youth groups at Ahwiaa in the Ashanti Region.

According to her, the cause of the conflict between the two groups cannot be justifiable, hence the need for the security to dig deeper and establish the real cause to be able to address the issues effectively.

The MP believes a better probe into the incident will help prevent future incidents.

“We need to find out what is the root cause of this whole conflict, because if we just leave it at the fact that, it was just a young girl’s funeral and one party was refused from attending the funeral and it started the fight, then I do not think it is right thing,” she said.

According to her, there had been funerals in the past in the area that did not result in such conflicts, adding that, there could be a long-standing dispute between the various groups in the area that sparked the recent clash.

“There have been so many funerals in this area that I have witnessed myself, where you see different tribes greeting each other, whether the person is a Zongo person or is an Ashanti. You will see the other parties coming in to help and its something that has been very good for so many years,” she said

Properties including vehicles were demolished when a fierce battle ensued between two youth groups in the area. Residents in the community were forced to lock themselves indoors as a result of the situation.

Reports say the disturbances started when the Asante youth prevented their counterparts from the Zongo community from partaking in the burial rites of an 18-year old girl by name, Esther Ampofowaa on Friday.

It is unclear who the deceased person is, and what exactly might have led to her burial rites being the cause of the violent clash.

The Police arrested four suspects in connection with the violence on Saturday. Two of the suspects were in possession of locally manufactured pistols, while the two others had machetes with them.

They are being kept in police custody to assist in further investigations.

Source: Citifmonline