A group of natives from Nwoase in the Wenchi Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region have appealed to the Regional Security Council and the Ministry of Interior to intervene and revoke a banishment imposed on them by elders of the town.
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The group comprising of about 400 people who are mostly farmers are currently staying with relatives in Awisa, Berekum, Techiman and Wenchi after being banished from the town by some elders for the past year for refusing to recognise a new fetish priest, Nana Kofi Afena.Â
Spokesperson for the victims, Charles Asante, a farmer, explained that they could not accept the new fetish priest because per the tradition of the town, it should take three years for a new fetish priest to be nominated by the gods but Nana Kofi Afena elected himself to become the new fetish priest of the town and those who did not support him were attacked and beaten by some elders from his camp and then banished from the town.
Mr. Asante indicated that they reported the matter to the Wenchi Police when the incident happened leading to the arrest of the perpetrators, but they were granted bail by the Wenchi magistrate’s court but since then, the case had not been called again, making it difficult for them to return to their hometown to engage in their farming business.
The Krontihemaa of Nwoase, Nana Ama Agyapongmaa, also a victim, said that she depended on her three-acre cashew farm in the area, but now she was prohibited from entering the community She, therefore, appealed to the government to help them return to the Nwoase community, The Ghanaian Times reported.
A source at the Regional Police Command say they have commenced investigations into the matter.
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