Mystery palm trees ‘resurrect’

 Fear and panic has engulfed the entire township of Sakora-Wonoo in the Kwabre East District of the Ashanti Region after two palm trees which were felled by a palm wine tapper five months ago have ‘resurrected’ with their roots intact.

While one is now standing erect like it used to, the second one is halfway standing on its roots, turning the hitherto calm and not-so-known Sakora-Wonoo into a tourist site; attracting a large crowd of visitors, especially on weekends.

The two trees were felled, pushed a distance from their roots, tapped for palm wine and left on the farmland to rot, with mushrooms all over it; but to the amazement of the townsfolk, they have ‘risen’.

Although there are no illegal mining activities in the water bodies in the community, two of the three rivers; Ahenesu and Poakwa, have dried up surprisingly, coinciding with the palm tree mystery.

For fear of more of such happenings, the elders of the town have informed the Nsumankwaahene, the Chief Priest of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is preparing to go to the farm to perform some rituals.

This development has culminated in low productivity in the community which has farming as its preoccupation. Some of the farmers fear to visit their farms and insist that till the mystery is resolved, they will stay home.

It all started a fortnight ago after the demise of the owner of the farm on which the trees stood, Opanin Gyamfi, who doubled as the Abusuapanin of the area.

Palmwine tapper

Narrating the story, fear-gripped 54-year-old Osei Kwabena, a palm wine tapper and nephew to the late Gyamfi, told The Mirror that he decided not to attend his uncle’s funeral that day out of grief, but rather work on the farm.

He said on his way back from the farm after the day’s work, he, together with his two dogs, heard an unusually loud sound behind them around where the two trees were, a situation which he said made the dogs bark uncontrollably out of fear, wag their tails and run, leaving him behind.

“When I turned to observe what had happened, I realised that the two palm trees which I just walked past and saw lying on the ground were up. I didn’t believe it and told myself maybe I was daydreaming or seeing different trees,” he narrated.

Osei said he immediately fled the farm and went to inform the elders of the town. “Most of the people who heard my story were in doubt and discounted my accounts because they said it was not possible,” he added.

When the people in the town saw The Mirror team, about 20 of them wanted to share their experiences.

Sixty-seven-year-old Opanyin Kwadwo Kwakye said those were signs that the gods and ancestors were demanding that the elders install a new chief to steer the affairs of the community.

“My brother, the tradition is that only a chief in this community can lead the people to weed around and clear the only well in the town and because of that, the well is overgrown with weeds and silted for the past 16 years that we have been without a chief,” he said.

Abusuapanin

The Abusuapanin of the Ekoona Royal Family, Opanin Kwanin Appiah, popularly known as Thomas, who is currently holding the fort after the death of Opanin Gyamfi, said he had been having sleepless nights ever since the incident happened.

He, together with three elderly women in the family, last Tuesday led The Mirror news team to the farmland to witness the development.

According to the Abusuapanin, the Ekoona family believed that the enigmatic act was a clarion call from their departed Abusuapanin to install a new chief, which he said was the sole reserve of their family.

Queenmother

The Queenmother of the town, Nana Ama Nyarko, who expressed shock, said she believed the developments were of great significance and called on people who could see beyond the ordinary to unravel the mystery to calm nerves and dispel the fear that had gripped the people.

“I was informed together with some elders and we went to the scene and realised that the trees that were felled were standing upright. We poured libation with some bottles of Aromatic schnapps to appease the gods of the land to unravel the secret behind the development,” she said.

Well

According to her, there was a well in the middle of the community which according to tradition, was to be de-silted annually, but had not been done for the past 16 years after the demise of the chief of the town.

“I have been there several times with my elders to weed around and tidy the environs of the well, but according to tradition, only the chief can de-silt it,” she said as she shook her head in despair.

When The Mirror news team got to the town and spoke to some indigenes, many of them attributed the woes of the community to the absence of a chief in the town, and called on the Asantehene to settle the long-standing differences between the Ekoona Royal Family (kingmakers) and the other faction in order to bring peace and development to the area.