THE TIMELY intervention of the police has helped to stop what observers believe was a looming bloodbath at Ananekrom near Kumawu in the Ashanti Region.
According to reports, some group of persons alleged to be Forestry Commission guards at Kumawu, on January 12, 2022, stormed Ananekrom to cause massive destruction in the town.
The guards were said to have totally burnt down five houses and destroyed the roofing sheets of other five houses, thereby leaving several people homeless in the process.
The action of the guards was said to have infuriated the affected people, who were therefore, ready to fight them, but the security agents, reportedly, intervened on time.
Tension was said to be at the boiling point at Ananekrom on January 14, 2022 as the residents were ready to fight over the decision to render them homeless.
A police report that confirmed the incident, said but for the timely intervention of armed police from the Agogo District, something untoward would have happened in the area.
The report disclosed that the guards claimed they had taken that action because to them, the people were illegally occupying that particular portion of the land.
The guards said the land was supposed to be used for an afforestation project by a private businessman, but the project had stalled because the land was being illegally occupied.
The guards, according to the police report, said they had a court order to demolish the houses and insisted they had not committed any offense.
There is still uneasy calm in Ananekrom as police are investigating the case, especially the forestry guard’s claim that they had a court order to demolish the houses, but no arrest had been made yet by the police.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi