Blog

Grunsah dares MCE over Fulanis

Fri, 21 May 2010 16:54:00 -0400

Alhaji Karim Grunsah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the King Faisal Football Club, has challenged the Asante Akim North Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) to provide evidence of his claim that Fulani herdsmen have killed 20 people in the municipality since the change of government.

Alhaji Grunsah, who is also a cattle owner with herds of cattle in the Agogo area, said it would be an indictment on the police if the Fulani herdsmen had indeed killed 20 people and nothing had been done about it.

He was speaking to the Times on the allegations attributed to Mr. Thomas Osei Bonsu, the MCE, following last month's disturbances at Agogo during which some people demonstrated against Nana Akuoko Sarpong, the paramount chief and his elders for allegedly giving consent to the Fulani herdsmen to graze their cattle on farms.

During that demonstration 15 people, including three policemen were seriously injured. Alhaji Grunsah called on the MCE to prove his allegations, saying, “this is an insult to the security of the nation."

In reaction, the MCE said, the truth about the killings would come out at a committee of inquiry set up by the Ashanti Region Security Council to investigate the disturbances.

He said family members of those killed are expected to testify at the enquiry.

According to Alhaji Grunsah a 50-year renewable indenture was made between the Paramount Chief and the cattle owners in May 2006 for their cattle to be kept in the area.

Under the agreement, he said the cattle owners were to construct ranches over about 60 acres of land, but the structures were destroyed by the town folk. Besides, a number of herdsmen have been killed by the local people, which the police are investigating.

He said despite the apparent bad blood between the people and the herdsmen, the cattle owners have provided bore-holes at Babume and Kowuraso for the benefit of the local people.

Alhaji Grunsah cited instances in 2009 when three cows and a cash of GH¢3,700 were given as compensation to the chairman of the urban council of the area, Opanin Pese, and another five cows and GH¢2,500 to the assembly member for Brapo, Agya Koduro both of who claimed their farms had been destroyed by cattle.

He asked the people not to politicise the issue and allow peace to prevail.

Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Security Council has set up a seven member committee to investigate the cause of the April 30 disturbances.

Inaugurating the committee, the Regional Minister, Kofi Opoku-Manu, charged the members to investigate the circumstances that led to the mob attack on the Agogo Police Station and barracks, any other related matters of significance and make recommendations to forestall any future occurrence.

The committee has 21 days to submit its report to the Regional Security Council.

A confrontation between inhabitants of Agogo and police occurred on April 30, when the police arrested one of the inhabitants, Yaw Thomas, during a demonstration by the people against the Paramount Chief and his elders for giving their farm lands to cattle dealers.

Twelve of the demonstrators and three policemen, including the District Commander were injured in the clash during which the demonstrators also vandalized the police station and barracks.

Sent: Wed, May 19, 2010 7:37:51 PM

Fulani Matters Investigative Committee

Fri, 21 May 2010 16:44:00 -0400

On the Fulani matter, the government constituted committee has started its work since last week. The Committee members have already visited the farming areas at Agogo where the herdsmen operates and interviewed farmers who were victims of the atrocities committed by the herdsmen. Sitting continues this week and I understand the Agogo Development Task Force has been invited by the Committee to appear before it tomorrow to make their presentations. Any updates from the sittings will be reported to you as they become available.

Thanks

EASTER 2010 IN AGOGO

Sun, 09 May 2010 18:45:00 -0400

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is, indeed, my pleasure to share with you the historic outcome of the Easter week end activities at Agogo organized under the auspices of Agogo Worldwide Association. I believe your respective representatives who joined us for most part of the activities will provide an eye witness account when they return to their bases. By far, I consider the events very successful as we really achieved the set objectives of raising money for the hostel project and also bringing most of our members together to socialize and share ideas.

Before I proceed to give you the rundown of the activities, I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to all the Executives of the various chapters for responding positively to the call and providing the much needed moral and financial support given the relatively short period of preparation. Secondly, I would like to thank Mr. Osei Anane, Chairman of the Accra Chapter, for his dedication, commitment, and the leadership role he played so well in ensuring the success of the program. He personally delivered invitation letters and collected some donations on behalf of the committee. He provided meals and drinks throughout the 3 days to delegates, invited guests, the youth, the brass band and others out of his own pocket as an additional donation to his time and effort towards the fundraiser. He also made cash donation besides the contribution made by the Accra Chapter. He basically declined the reimbursement offered him by the Planning Committee. Thirdly. I do not know what to say about the Agogo Youth Association. Quite frankly, we couldn't have gone through the program without these guys. A group which was yet to be inaugurated and barely 2 months old came in their numbers (over 100) and displayed a great sense of patriotism and seriousness to the agenda. They were everywhere, from the cleaning, to the tree planting, marathon, and the games and organized most of the logistics needed. Fourthly, join me to say a big thank you to all the delegates from the various Chapters who had travelled from abroad to participate in the events. In attendance from overseas were Nana Kofi Tuuda (Philadelphia), Dixon Atta (London), Kate Obeng (Worcester), Matthew Nkansah-Dwamenah, Kwame Obeng, Isaac Asamoah (Washington DC), Agyenim Boateng, Thompson, Kwadwo Owuo (New York). Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to the Planning Committee and the Executives of the Accra Chapter for the pivotal role that they played from the planning process and throughout the execution phase.

Now the rundown by the days:

GOOD FRIDAY:

As was reported to you on the program of events, we began on Easter Friday with general cleaning of the town. We managed to secure a truck from the Environmental Office at Agogo that collected all the garbage for disposal. The cleaning exercise started as early as 6:00 am with about 70 people. The number grew larger as we went through the streets of Agogo with the Brass Band playing behind us. This lasted for about 3 hours as some members needed to attend church service.

Then in the evening, at about 5:00 pm, we all went to the Kowire River near the bridge that crosses over to the Agogo State Senior High School. The attendance was very encouraging. We had invited the Municipal Chief Executive of the Asante North Assembly to join us which he honored. At the ceremony, we decided to plant a tree on behalf of each chapter. However, since the MCE was present he was respectfully asked to plant the first tree which will represent the Assembly. Then trees were planted with a short ceremony by each chapter. We also planted one for the Youth Association and AWA. The challenges of clearing and reclaiming the river were discussed and a request was made to the MCE for assistance in providing some logistics and technical assistance in order to clear the river from the weeds that have engulfed it all. He promised to do his very best to support us in that regard. Before the tree planting ceremony, Mr. Osei Anane, Nana Kofi Tuuda, Dixon Atta and myself had the privilege to go to ASEMPA RADIO where we did a live broadcast to the people to explain the objectives of the Easter Fundraising program.

EASTER SATURDAY:

The day began with a marathon race at about 5:30 am from the Lorry Park through some principal streets of Agogo. The turnout was great. The race saw people like Mr. Osei Anane, Dickson, and myself making it through to the finishing line much to the disbelieve of many people. The ambulance from the hospital trailed behind the runners in the event that there was a casualty. Fortunately, no incident was reported as participants ran a smart race. Dickson was the first to cross over the finishing line among the old guys. The part I enjoyed and had the most fun was right after the marathon when we all gathered at the lorry park to clean the space and prepare it for the durbar that afternoon. As the youth were seriously cleaning up the place, the women started playing games like, ampeh, akotoosie, hwe hwem be yi wo mpena, that was reminiscent of the '50's and 60's.. Meanwhile, a member ordered a full "drum" of fresh palm wine and everybody helped themselves to it. That was a lovely palm wine that reminded me of the old days.(this is not meant to prompt your appetite).

The durbar itself was very colorful. Some dignitaries who were in attendance included, Agogo Akyempehene, who represented the Omanhene and was clouded by the other sub-chiefs including our own Nana Kofi Tuuda (Agogo Nkabomhene) who looked very paramount in his traditional chieftancy outfit followed by the Queenmother and elders of Asenee family which he belongs. Also in attendance were Mr. Osei Bonsu, the MCE; Mr. Anyimadu Antwi, MP; The Aucer Auset Society from Washington DC, representatives from all the Educational institutions and churches in Agogo, Chiefs from some Asante Akyem area, businessmen and other dignitaries.

Representatives for each of our chapters were introduced followed by fraternal greetings and short messages on behalf of their members. Since there was no one present from New Jersey, Matthew Nkansah was asked to speak on their behalf. Everything went well and for any successful program like that we needed the showers from Heaven which we did towards the closing. We all understood the import of the rains as we were rushed to close the events, the evening dance that was scheduled for the night had to be cancelled because of the rains and power outage.

EASTER SUNDAY:

Sunday was devoted for Thanksgiving services and members attended service at the Presbyterian Church of Agogo. Again, we had a large number of participants joining in for the service. Following the service, the delegates met at Mr. Osei Anane's house to check the proceeds received from the fundraising which had been kept in a safe and left in the house of Mr. Osei Anane while the key to the safe box was kept by the Treasurer. The total proceeds from the fundraising was 25,500 Ghana New Cedis which is equivalent to 255 million Old Ghana Cedis. It was decided that the Accra Chapter will open a new bank account for the use of AWA and then deposit the amount realized in that account. The Treasurer of the Accra Chapter will provide monthly report on the funds logged in the AWA account. In regards to the management and accounting for the Hostel project, the delegates recommended that we form a Project Management Team within the Accra Chapter to oversee and report on the implementation of the project. If the Executives agree on this recommendation, Accra will then appoint 3 people to manage the project. The final rendering of accounts to include all expenses incurred and subsequent reporting on the fundraising will be prepared and submitted by the Planning Committee as soon as possible. We all discussed the need to be very transparent and provide better accounting and utilization of the funds realized. We cannot, as leaders, afford to miss this fine opportunity and should strive hard to exhibit a high sense of integrity and accountability of managing this first project. It was assured that the appraisal of the project cost will be made available to all Executives for their review and endorsement before the project gets started. Apart from the monetary donations, we also received in-kind contribution of about 210 bags of cement. Again, the full report on the contributions will be disclosed later after the Committee has completed the report.

After the meeting, we all proceeded to the playground of Collins Senior High Secondary School. We played 2 soccer matches, one was for the male and the other pitched our women against each other. Others were engaged in volley ball, tennis and other games. It will interest you to learn that your President captained one of the male teams and lost narrowly by 2 goals to 1. Following the games, Nana Tuuda invited the youth to his hostel for short reception and had a pep talk with them as a source of inspiration and encouragement. Nana was overwhelmed when he saw the crowd of about 120 people.

Well, my dear friends, I think I've tried to cover a lot here this evening and expect that those who attended the functions will jump in and share their individual experiences.

We have, indeed, cleared the first hurdle and hope that we can consolidate the initiation with a super showing next year. Planning should start early for next year to ensure a greater success. The Planning Committee will be meeting soon to review the whole process and share our lessons learned so we can improve upon this year's performance.

Meanwhile, a meeting is being planned for the delegates this week end to discuss another important issue on the menace posed by the Fulani Herdsmen within the Agogo farming communities. We hope to brief you all on the outcome of that meeting which was requested by the Municipal Chief Executive of our area. I'll report on this meeting and a related one that was held on Monday at Agogo between "Agogo Development Task Force" a new group seeking the welfare and development of Agogo town. That meeting was attended by the Executives of the Accra Chapter, Executives of AYASS, and the Task Force. Stay tuned!!!

There was a video coverage for all the events and we hope to make copies available to you when they are ready. On that note, I wish to end here to allow others to join in either with comments or their own accounts of the Easter events. Thank you and

God bless us all!!!

Brotherly!

Sam Anyang-Kusi

Immediate Past President

Re: TEN SUSTAINED GUNSHOT WOUNDS

Sun, 09 May 2010 18:30:00 -0400

Dear Friends,

Let me try to provide some background information to the news from Ghanaweb which Nana Tuuda generously circulated by e-mail to all of us. First of all, the demonstration was peacefully organized by the Concern Citizens of Agogo, called The Agogo Development Task Force. The objectives of the demonstration were two fold as we were told.

Firstly, to draw the attention of the Government on the menace posed by the presence of the Funali herdsmen and their cattle on the legitimate land of Agogo citizens and the farmers in the area. The irresponsible behaviour of the herdsmen and the impunity with which they commit a whole range of criminal activities at the disguise of cattle raring have led to the destruction of farms and farm lands, raping of innocent married and unmarried women, and threats on the lives of the farming community in the areas where they occupy. Secondly, the demonstration was to protest against some of our chiefs who have illegally leased some family lands to the Fulanis without the approval of the family members. Some of the leases are for periods of 50 years that have renewal options for additional 25 or 50 years. The demonstration in itself was approved by the Police at Agogo but they failed to provide any guidance to control the crowd which was very deliberate because of their personal interest in the matter. The corrupt police take bribes from these Fulani herdsmen so they could be protected.

Now the story of the events of Friday. I was at Agogo early on that morning preparing to travel to Accra when the demonstration started. I was informed that it was very peaceful earlier on. As I was making my way out of town I had a call to alert me that one of the demonstrators has been arrested by the Police without any "provocation". I immediately contacted the MCE, Honorable Osei Bonsu about the situation. As a matter of fact, he was heading to the Police station when I called him. A few minutes later I had another call, this time more distressed than the first one, informing me of the Police firing live bullets into the crowd that had gone to the Police station to demand the release of their colleague arrested.

As a result, I abandoned my journey and returned to Agogo to see what was going on. I drove straight to the hospital to ascertain the truth about what I heard. Indeed, the Emergency room was a mess. There were in all about 12 people who got hit by the gun shots and were being treated from various wounds. I immediately checked with the nurses if there were any fatalities and was told none. That was a big sigh of relief and that was the good news.

Upon hearing that I left the hospital and went to the Police station where I met the MCE who had succeeded in securing the release of the person who was arrested. Ironically, it was the Divisional Police Commander (head of the depot) at the Agogo station who started the shootings, according to eye witnesses and the victims. As the news reporting indicated, some of the demonstrators had gone to the Chief's Palace to protest against the Registrar at the Traditional Council who was one of the signatories to the lease agreements of land to the Fulani's.

When the crowd got to the Palace, they were staging their protests peacefully outside the main gate. However, the Registrar upon seeing the crowd outside and with all the insinuations being poured on him, felt very threatened and decided to fire some warning shots into the air. My understanding was that (not to justify any action) the crowd got angry when they heard the gun shots and charged spontaneously into the compound of the Palace and started vandalizing. They immediately retrieved and left the Palace. The Police was called in by the Registrar to the Palace. When they arrived the crowd had already left and were in the streets matching on. The DSP then fired some warning shots into the air. He then directed a KIA truck that the demonstrators were using for announcements and was full of people and loud speakers to stop. The Officer then grabbed the microphone and told the crowd that the guns given to the Police was meant to be used to kill people not animals and that anyone who misbehaves would be shot without hesitation. Immediately following his announcement, the eyewitness account indicated that another Junior Police Officer also took the microphone and tried to tone down the unguarded threats earlier made by his superior officer. He said, if they stayed calm without taking the laws into their own hands then nothing will happpen to them. As the Police were leaving the scene, one of the demonstrators also took turn of the microphone and announced that the Police cannot shoot anybody since they were conducting themselves peacefully. The Officer then arrested that individual upon hearing his announcement and took him to the station. That started the whole mess bacause the crowd went to the station to seek the unconditional release of their colleague. This then resulted the same officer shooting live bullets into the crowd.

I would also like to add that the demonstrators, prior to going to the Palace, had held similar protests in the houses of three other sub-chiefs who had signed these lease agreements without any incidence. This is to explain that they did not indiscrimanetly select the Chiefs Palace for the protests.

The MCE and the MP calmed down the nerves of the crowd and held a rally at the Russia Park where they were presented with a petition by the Task Force. They assured the citizens that all efforts will be made to punsih the Police Officer(s) who went on the shooting spree. Also, on the Funali's presence, they're working around the clock to bring the National Security Force to come to Agogo to initiate the process of driving them out of the area.

I understand a press conference was held by the Task Force yesterday to correct some of the reporting errors by the media and also to reaffirmed their demand for the removal of the herdsmen as well as the abrogation of the land leases by these chiefs.

I also learned that all the injured are responding well to treatment and none of the cases is life threatening.

For your information, I've attached a summary of the lease agreements which the Task Force distributed to the general public as well as 2 of the lease agreements that I managed to get copies. Remember, there were 4 separate leases and I'll send the remaining 2 when I get copies. (Please note that I was unable to attach the documents as the internet cafes nearest me are closed. The documents had to be scanned at the cafe and would do that tomorrow. I didn't want to wait for the release of the write up as I completed it yesterday and was hoping I could do the attachment today before the release).

I'll urge all of us to pray for those who got shot. In the meantime, if you speak to your relatives at home, advice them to stay calm and allow the authorities to deal with the matter without taking the laws into their own hands. The demand for the citizens right cannot be compromised, however, we have to follow the due process without resulting into any violent means.

May God bless Agogo!

Immediate Past President.

TEN SUSTAINED GUNSHOT WOUNDS AT AGOGO

Thu, 06 May 2010 18:40:00 -0400

Ten persons, who were part of a group of demonstrators that clashed with the police at Agogo in the Asante-Akim North Municipality on Friday, have sustained gunshot wounds.

They are receiving treatment at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital.

The group was protesting criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen in the area but their action turned violent when members got to the palace of the Omanhene of the traditional area, Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong.

The demonstrators started to vandalize the Palace resulting in the arrest of one the protesters.

An eyewitness told the Ghana News Agency that the arrest angered the protesters, who laid siege of the Police station and demanded the unconditional release of their colleague.

They allegedly pelted the police with stones injuring three of them including the District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police Samuel Odame.

The eyewitness said at this point the Police allegedly began firing live bullets into the air to disperse the demonstrators and some of protesters were hit by bullets.

Superintendent Samuel Afriyie, the Konongo Divisional Commander, confirmed the incident to the GNA.

Mr Thomas Osei Bonsu, the Municipal Chief Executive, expressed worry about the turn of events and asked demonstrators not to take the law into their hands.

He said the Municipal Assembly was taking steps to tackle the nuisance that the Fulani herdsmen were causing.

Source: GNA

Story from Myjoyonline.Com News:

http://news.myjoyonline.com/news/201005/45537.asp

Published: 5/1/2010

Asante Akim Joe Boye & family

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:29:00 -0500

Asante Akim Joe Boye and family wish all Agogo residents in the Washington Metro Area and the world over a Happy New Year. 2010 is hopefully a year of accomplishments for all members of the Agogo Citizens Association.

Stay blessed.

Asante Akim Joe Boye & family

Esther & family

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:02:00 -0500

Ms. Esther Prempeh & family

Season's Greetings

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:17:00 -0500

Happy New Year

The dawn breaks and we are ushered into a new year. May the coming year bring good tidings to all Agogo Citizens in the diaspora especially those in the Washington Metro Area.

As tender lily pushes its way through soil and grow in beauty so shall you excel in the year 2010.

We wish all and sundry a Happy Prosperous New Year.

Stay blessed.

Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Ofori Darkwa