There are increasing fears amongst residents in the Keta municipality of the Volta Region, Today can report
The worrying development, the paper learnt, is as a result of rampant killings of innocent persons which have hit some communities within the municipality recently.
Today discovered that these killings, which are bizarre in nature, were on the rise in communities including Dzita-Agbledome, Akplorwotorkor, Galo and Anloga together with other coastal settlements in the municipality.
The latest in the series was a body believed to have been a Caucasian in his late twenties (20s) found on Friday, 5th January, 2018 in a mangrove swamp at Akplorwotorkor near Dzita with an incision around her neck.
Considering the situation as dizzying and unbearable, the residents complained they were living and carrying out their daily activities in total fear as security in the area was nothing to write home about.
“The situation is now too worrying: we are vulnerable and living in fear,” some of the residents who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity lamented.
The distraught residents also recounted that those in the identified communities in September 2017 demonstrated and urged the police to intensify operational efficiency in the area to curb the increasing crime posing fear in the municipality.
The persistence and rather frequent criminalities were aggravating mistrust in the local police and agitations among the youth in the municipality, the paper further gathered.
“We challenge the government to give half the salary and the resources they give to the Divisional Commander to my father in the village and he will find the killers in 30 days,” a youth leader in one of the above communities dared.
Some opinion leaders expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment in the state security personnel for ‘neglecting the area’ despite series of petitions presented to the appropriate security authorities over the phenomenon.
“Several appeals, petitions, demonstrations, close door meetings, etc., have been made. This spans more them four years now.
…Very few, weak and inadequate actions have been received from the state authorities so far,” a community leader bemoaned.
Others were quick to condemn the regional police force over what they described as their ‘unwillingness and lack of patriotism’ to serve the people.
“…the last petition we presented to the divisional commander was actually addressed to the regional police commander. We took steps to ensure it was delivered to him. He doesn’t even have the courtesy to acknowledge receipt. We don’t have time for an excursion to Ho,” an angry youth expressed.
The Keta municipality is one of the areas with incredible natural resources yet to be explored to its fullest.
And the residents prior to the strings of higher criminalities had enjoyed fishing and farming activities deep into the night before retiring to bed.
However, this way of life appears to have vanished into thin air with residents going to bed early to avoid being the next murdered victims.
<<Print>>