2 Injured in renewed chieftaincy conflict at Portor as residents flee town
A renewed chieftaincy dispute at Portor in the Kintampo Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region yesterday left two people injured with eight houses set ablaze.
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The two who sustained gunshot wounds were members of the Presbyterian Church who were passing through the town in their vehicle to attend a funeral at Benkrom, also in the Kintampo Municipality.They were hit by stray bullets.
An unspecified number of people who have been arrested in connection with the disturbances are currently being interrogated in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Regional capital.
Ghost town
The Kintampo Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Justice Michael Baffoe, who spoke to the Daily Graphic from Portor, said the town, with a population of 3,000, had now been deserted.
“I can now count only about 30 to 40 people in the town,” the MCE said.
He said a combined team of police and military personnel had stepped up patrols in the area to ensure law and order.
Cause
Portor is a town along the Kintampo-Tamale road with a population of 3,000 people. The road divides the town into two communities.
Those on the left side belong to the Chawachawa Family while those on the right side of the road are members of the Bawa family.
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According to Mr Baffoe, there was a chieftaincy dispute about one-and-a-half years ago during which a gun that was shot into a local mosque wounded the chief of the Chawachawa side who later died in hospital.
In that incident, inhabitants of the town fled while those who were believed to be behind the shooting were declared wanted.
He said it was believed that the return of Chief Bawa, who is the chief of the Bawa Family, sparked the renewed violence.
Mr Baffoe indicated that currently, Chief Bawa and some of his men were being interrogated in Sunyani.