Information reaching Daily Guide indicates that government is considering confiscating the land at the centre of renewed clashes between the Nkonyas and Alavanyos in the Biakoye District and Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region.
Tension is mounting in the communities as sporadic gunshots are reported to be all over the place.
The move to seize the land, according to the source, is one of a few options being considered should the two sides refuse to ceasefire and return to the peace talks.
The Volta Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, confirmed this in an interview with Dsily Guide, but noted that �we have not got there yet. He however warned that it was not beyond consideration.
He explained that the two factions, led by their leaders, Nana Okortor Kofi III of Nkonya and Togbe Tsedze Atakora VII of Alavanyo were being summoned to the national capital, Accra for mediation talks to find a lasting solution to the dispute.
All this gesture by government is being done out of the respect for the two sides but not because government is afraid of the warring factions, the Minister intimated.
He said all attempts at the regional level to keep the dialogue alive had been thwarted by attacks from the sides which he said was unnecessary and criminal.
Mr. Afotey Agbo, popularly called Lion, explained why government had restrained itself from issuing out warnings of causing the arrest of the chiefs of the two factions.
He said based on security intelligence and considerations from the Regional Security Council, REGSEC, they realized that some unscrupulous people might take advantage of the situation to arrest the chiefs.
Meanwhile, scores of residents in Alavanyo told DAILY GUIDE that the security abandoned them last Tuesday, leaving them at the mercy of suspected Nkonya assailants who were shooting sporadically into their area, particularly at Kpeme.
The Assembly Member of Alavanyo Kpeme, Josephine Asigbetse and Alavanyo Wudidi, Michael Mawusi also confirmed this.
The Headmaster of Alavanyo Secondary Technical, Joy Binney, also told DAILY GUIDE that �the shooting is scaring us, so everyone is indoors. We have also asked the security men not to go home because there are no police and soldiers to protect us.�
The Regional Minister promised to intensify patrol in the area to allay the fears of the inhabitants.
�There is no security post in Alavanyo, but that does not mean there is no security patrol in Alavanyo.�
He added that �the Alavanyo people sacked the military and police personnel themselves by shooting at their amoured vehicle and assaulting one military personnel some time ago. More so the people used nailed clubs to block the road to destroy the tyres of the patrol vehicles.
He said the impact of the shooting on the amoured car proved that the people had sophisticated weapons and that had it not been for the amoured car, the occupants would have been injured or dead.
The windscreen of the amoured vehicle was said to have been damaged in the attack.
It is the attack that prompted the security to move their base from the Alavanyo town and to Nkonya Tayi, which is a stone throw from the nearest Alavanyo town, Kpeme.
�Despite this attack the security have not stopped patrolling Alavanyo,� Lion stressed.
He finally called for calm from both sides and hoped that the deliberations in Accra would open a new chapter of hope for posterity.
He also urged the military and police personnel and other operatives in the area to be vigilant and ensure that anyone found initiating any attack would be made to face the law.
<<Print>>