Article: A. Kofoya-Tetteh
SUHUM, the capital of the Suhum District in the Eastern Region, is a flourishing township with a number of trading enterprises and educational institutions.
The town, with an estimated population of 35,000, lies at the intersection of four commercial towns, namely Asamankese, Nsawam, Kyebi and Koforidua, the regional capital.
It is located in the forest belt on the main Accra-Kumasi-Highway with a number of farming communities and villages such as Amanshia, Abenabo Number One and Abenabo Number Two, Nankese, Akorabo, Tetteh Nkwanta and Anum Apapam, whose inhabitants are mostly cocoa and foodstuff producers, and they throng Suhum, especially on Mondays and Thursdays to market their produce.
A large number of commuters, who also engage in other economic activities, together with others now permanently domiciled in the town, have, as expected, transformed the town into one of the fastest growing towns in the region.
Its heterogeneous inhabitants, made up of Akyems, the land owners, Akuapems, Krobos, Shais, Ewes, Anums, as well as people from all parts of the Northern Region have co-existed peacefully over the years.
To ensure that such a huge concentration of peaceful people with different cultures enjoy the basic necessities of life, the district administration, under the leadership of the District Chief Executive, Mr Michael Kofi Mensah, has for the past seven years, been undertaking a development programme in the town.
That has resulted in the availability of numerous social amenities such as good roads, markets, schools and clinics in the town and its environs.
The provision of such amenities has transformed the town and attracted more people from the nearby villages such as Akorabo, Amanshia, Nankese, Abenabo, Kwashia and other parts of the country who have settled there permanently.
This large concentration of people in the town which was once a safe haven, particularly for migrant workers, has for the past one-and-a-half years proved to be a problem.
This is because since the latter part of 2006, the town has witnessed mysterious killings that have sent about 10 innocent people to their graves.
The modus operandi of the yet-to-be identified assailants is crushing the heads of their victims, most of whom are night watchmen at their duty posts.
Although it is believed that the killings might be for ritual purposes, none of the body parts of the victims were removed.
This year alone, four persons — three night watchmen named Musa Bimoba, Yakubo Sawadogo and Seidu Issifu Adamu, all of the Suhum Presbyterian Senior Secondary School, Koo Wilie Trading Company and Trans Royal Cocoa Buying Company in the town, have had their heads crushed with cement blocks and a flower pot in their sleep.
A nine-year-old girl, Afua Dansoa, who also went out jubilating after a Ghana 2008 soccer match on January 20, was also found strangled the following day.
Although these strange killings are being tackled by the police, who have positioned men at vantage points and also patrol the town at night, this has not allayed the fear of the people.
They have imposed an unofficial curfew on themselves — they stay indoors at night, and entertainment at night has been affected.
The worrying situation has forced market women from the nearby villages, who under normal circumstances, commuted to and from the town in the night or at dawn to curtail their activities for fear of being killed.
The killings, the latest of which happened on Saturday, February 16, 2008, has led to the intensification of police investigations and patrol in the area. According to the Suhum District Police Commander, Superintendent Stephen Amoako, the police are doing their best to unravel the mystery of the killings.
“We are on the ground, but the killers are sophisticated. We will, however, do our best to unravel the mystery and bring the killers to book,” he said.
The traditional authorities of the town are also going all out in tackling the issue, and a series of meetings, involving all the chiefs and headmen of the various ethnic groups or communities in the town and its environs have been held.
The Adikrofo and headmen, led by Nene Tetteh Adjanor II, Odikro of Abenabo and Ankobea Akyeampong of Suhum has since the beginning of the year been having series of meetings on the issue, with either the Chief of Suhum, Osabarima Aye Kofi, or the Osiahene, Opanyin Edward Obuobisa as chairman.
The gatherings have led to the formation of watchdog committees to partner the police to patrol the town at night, but the lack of funds to support the watchdog volunteers has crippled their activities.
“We have formed watchdog committees to patrol all parts of the town at night to make it safe for the people, but we do not have money to support the volunteers who have sacrificed their lives to ensure the safety of others,” Osiahene Obuobisa stated.
Nene Tetteh Adjanor, Odikro of Abenabo, which is a walking distance from Suhum, for his part, has organised the youth of the village and they patrol the area, especially the main road leading to Suhum, and also apprehend strangers identified as criminals.
“We are on alert, protecting everybody, especially schoolchildren and market women, who use the main road to Suhum at night and at dawn, but the market women themselves have decided to spend the night at Suhum if they are late in coming home,” Nene Adjanor said.
In addition to measures instituted to ensure the safety of the people, the Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Felix Asare Darko, met opinion leaders of the town on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 to see how best to improve the security situation.
This, according to sources, would be followed by another meeting at the weekend, involving the Regional Minister, Mr Asiedu Affram, and top security operatives from Accra to deliberate on how to solve the situation.
It is expected that these measures, together with prayers being said in churches, mosques and traditional shrines, would in the long run lead to the arrest of the culprits and smashing of the syndicate and enable the people to live in peace once more, without fear of being killed.
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