Japekrom mayhem: We back no faction – Police

The police have been accused of not doing enough to deal with the situation

The Ghana Police Service has denied claims that it is behind one of the feuding groups in the recent attacks at Japekrom in the Brong Ahafo Region.

There was a bloody clash between some unknown persons of Drobo and Japekrom on Wednesday, 17 October 2018, which resulted in the death of two people with several others sustaining gunshot wounds.

Unknown assailants fired gunshots into a thick crowd of Japekrom inhabitants on Wednesday where several people had gathered, including chiefs, to mark the Munufie Festival.

The Ministry for the Interior Ministry has imposed an indefinite curfew the two towns as well as six other neighbouring areas in the Jaman South Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region.

However, the traditional authorities in the area have accused the police of not doing enough to deal with the situation.

Okatakyie Amoah Aturu Nkonkon Kyia II, who is the President of Mpaasu-Japekrom Traditional Area, told host of Ghana Yensom, Kwabena Prah Jnr. (The Don) on Accra100.5FM Thursday, 25 October that they suspect the police are behind the unknown group, since, in his view, no effort is being made to identify the culprits.

“It appears the police support that group because there haven’t been enough efforts to arrest them,” he alleged, adding that: “The curfew is very uncomfortable but if that is what will bring peace, we are for it.”

Reacting to these concerns on the same show, Chief Inspector Augustine Kingsley Oppong, the Brong Ahafo Regional Police PRO, said: “The investigations take time and, so, definitely the culprits will be brought to book. We are serving Ghana and, so, we are not backing one faction.”