Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, is urging Inspector General of Police George Akuffo Dampare to intervene as soon as possible in the ongoing dispute over Panpanso No 1 Accra-Kumasi Highway in his constituency, where some masked gunmen men destroyed their homes.
Residents were asleep on Sunday morning when some masked men suspected of being land guards stormed the village and started demolishing buildings.
MP for the area, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who was not happy with the incident, went to the community with NADMO officials on Tuesday to sympathize with the victims affected.
He also donated 250 bags of cement, a lot of roofing sheeting and 20,000 GHC for the affected victims.
The MP’s reactions follow some concerns raised by settlement community chiefs about how police have conspired with land guards and terrorized residents in the area.
He assured community members that he would visit the IGP office on Wednesday to bring the issue up and look into the matter.
He expressed concern at how the police were in bed with the land guards by taking the law into their hands.
He called on the IGP to deploy his men to the community to protect affected residents.
Affected residents claimed that a real estate developer, Kofi Acquah, claimed a court ordered him to begin the demolition drill without notifying the community.
The chiefs in the settlements also accused the police of colluding with the land guards, who terrorize them in the area by illegally taking over their lands.
On Monday morning, the unfortunate residents blocked the Accra-Kumasi highway to express their displeasure as they got excited and started an impromptu demonstration.
To bring the situation under control, Teacher Mante Police, led by District Commander ASP Francis K. Nartey, rushed to the scene to meet a group of over 200 angry townspeople who were blocking the road with logs and flaming truck tires.
The police managed to persuade the angry demonstrators to clear the street, as they were obliged to do.
The police team later visited the site of the destroyed buildings and found 11 homes that had been torn down with a payload machine for no apparent reason, leaving residents homeless.
Affected residents found their lights went out around 2am and they thought it was the normal EKG issue and would be restored soon, but suddenly they heard gunshots.
One said: “The land guards knocked on our doors, threw us out and destroyed our buildings. We don’t know what’s going on. Nobody told us anything”
The residents have since slept in the community classrooms on some mattresses given to them by the community assembly.
The chiefs who received the items thanked the deputy for his kind gesture.
Meanwhile, six suspects from the community have been arrested, who are suspected of being part of the Land Guard.
