The Queenmother of the Adele Traditional Area, Ohemaa Nyarkoa Onyunkilin, has called on the youth of Nkwanta South Municipality to support the implementation of a peace plan to help bring lasting and peaceful solutions to the conflict in the municipality.

She has noted with great concern how the prolonged and persistent conflicts had resulted in the loss of human live as well as destruction of property.

The conflicts were also threatening peace, safety and prosperity of the citizens as well as hindered the development of the area.

Ohemaa Onyunkilin, a teacher by profession, made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic at Nkwanta last Wednesday in the aftermath of the recent communal conflict between the Atwodies and Adeles.

This latest clash resulted in the death of 16 people and properties worth thousands of cedis were vandalised. 

She said it must be made clear that no individuals or groups would be allowed to hold the law to ransom. 

Trigger

It all began in November last year, when the people of Atwodie allegedly wanted to celebrate their yam festival at the Nkwanta Municipal School Park. 

This did not go down well with the Adeles who claimed ownership of the school land.

Ohemaa Onyunkilinr said that resulted in some misunderstanding between the two tribes and in the pandemonium, some of the youth took advantage of the situation and encouraged the crowd to react violently. 

The government reacted by stating that all schools would be closed down with immediate effect until further notice, while a dawn to dusk curfew was imposed.

The authorities also advised parents to keep their children at home and await further instructions. 

The queenmother stated that violence of this nature was alien to the people of the area and the events that led to the deaths of these young people needed not to have happened. 

Impact

The queenmother regretted that Nkwanta which was a viable commercial centre, food basket and also has a referral hospital, “has been thrown into such a place of disquiet with the cessation of normal life while teachers have also left the community”. 

She appealed to the government to take a second look at the curfew and review it to allow the markets to be revived since it was a three-day and night operations. 

Ohemaa Nyarkoa Onyunkilin also said the review of the curfew would also allow patients, especially pregnant women, to attend to the referral hospital from the nearby towns and villages during emergency. 

She expressed the hope that the youth and elders of the feuding communities would allow peace to prevail and choose the path of amicable solution to issues instead of the use of weapons that could lead to loss of lives and destruction of property. 

The Assembly member for Nkwanta East, Ishmael Gbati, also appealed to the government to review the curfew to enable life to take its normal course. 

He called on the Traditional authorities and elders to always ensure that any misunderstanding was settled dispassionately. 

Also, the Assembly member for Nkwanta Central, Awal Zakary Yerimah, appealed to the government to either revoke the curfew or extend the timetable to allow commercial activities to resume in the area which has been acclaimed to be one of the fastest growing towns in the region. 

Source: GraphicOnline