Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh is calling on the Inspector-General of Police, George Akuffo Dampare to intervene as soon as possible in the ongoing tussle at Panpanso No.1, a farming community along the Accra-Kumasi Highway in his constituency where some masked armed men demolished their homes.
The residents were asleep on Sunday dawn when some masked men suspected to be landguards stormed the village and started pulling down buildings.
The Member of Parliament for the area, Frank Annoh-Dompreh who wasn’t happy with the incident together with the NADMO officials on Tuesday went to the community to sympathize with the affected victims.
He also donated 250 bags of cement, quantities of roofing sheets, and GHC20,000 to the affected victims.
The MP’s reactions follow some concerns raised by the chiefs of the settled community on how the Police are conspiring with the landguards and terrorizing the residents in the area.
He assured the community members to visit the office of the IGP on Wednesday to table the issue before him to take the matter up.
He expressed worry about how the Police have being in bed with the landguards by taking the law into their hands.
He called on the IGP to deploy his men to the community to safeguard the affected residents.
The affected residents alleged that one Real Estate Developer, Kofi Acquah claimed a court gave him the order to embark on the demolition exercise without any notice to the community.
The chiefs in the settlements also accused the Police of being in bed with the landguards who are terrorizing them in the area by taking over their lands unlawfully.
On Monday morning, the unhappy inhabitants blocked the Accra-Kumasi highway to drum home their displeasure as they became agitated and embarked on a spontaneous demonstration.
To bring the situation under control, the Police from Teacher Mante led by the District Commander ASP Francis K. Nartey rushed to the scene to meet a group of furious town folks numbering over 200 blocking the road with logs and burning lorry tires.
The police managed to convince the angry demonstrators to clear the road which they obliged.
The police team later visited the scene of the demolished buildings and found eleven houses pulled down with a payloader machine for no apparent reason leaving the dwellers homeless.
The affected residents noted that their lights went off around 2 am, and they thought it was the normal ECG issue and would be restored soon, but all of a sudden, they heard gunshots.
One said “The land guards knocked on our doors, threw us out, and demolished our buildings. We don’t know what is going on. No one has told us anything”
The residents since have been sleeping in the classrooms in the community on some mattresses given to them by the Municipal Assembly.
The Chiefs who received the items expressed gratitude to the MP for his kind gesture.
Meanwhile, six suspects have so far been arrested from the community who are suspected to be part of the landguards.
– BY Daniel Bampoe