Rescuers at the scene of the tragedy
NANA ESA Guakuro, the chief of Kyemanko near Kintampo in the Brong-Ahafo Region, has observed that non-performance of traditional rituals caused the Kintampo Waterfall tragedy which claimed the lives of about 20 students and several others injured on Sunday.
He alleged that the Kintampo Invincible Forces, made up of loyalists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), had prevented him from performing sacrifices at the waterfall enclave and that might have given rise to the disaster.
According to him Nana Esa Guakuro, the Invincible Forces chased away people who used to manage the facility and annexed it immediately the NPP was declared winner of the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.
He said he once received complaints from fetish priests in the area that some people had been having sexual intercourse in the water that collects at the base of the waterfall, “which is a taboo that can anger the gods,” noting that he usually visited the waterfall enclave to perform traditional rites.
Nana Guakuro said on Otec FM in Kumasi that he believed that the usual performances of rituals in the enclave helped to prevent disasters similar to what happened Sunday.
In a sharp reaction, the NPP Vice Chairman of the area, Abubakar Saddique, stated that it is never true that the Invincible Forces had been preventing the chief from performing rituals at the waterfall enclave.
According to him, Nana Guakuro is a National Democratic Congress (NDC) staunch member, and the traditional leader is just fabricating stories to tarnish the image of the ruling political party (NPP).
Abubakar Saddique stated that the management of the waterfall was awarded on contract to a top NPP man when ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor was the head of state.
He noted that some NDC members hijacked the facility and chased away the NPP man and his workers after the NDC had won the 2008 national elections “and this same chief did not utter a word.”
Abubakar Saddique insisted that the Kintampo Invincible Forces could not be blamed for the incident, adding that the NPP loyalists would leave the facility for the chief to manage.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi