Armed Security Personnel Pounce On Youth In Kumasi

There was pandemonium on Tuesday morning at North, a suburb of the Bantama in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, when fully-armed security personnel pounced on defenseless youth in the area. The security personnel, comprising 16 armed-to-the-teeth police officers, a military officer, a number of community police officers and 30 Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) security officers, beat the youth up mercilessly, after which they arrested four of them. The security personnel, who were sent to the area by Coffie Aracio aka �Show Show�, the Bantama National Democratic Congress (NDC) constituency chairman, began firing warning shots into the air when they arrived at the place at about 6:45 am. They were sent to the area to teach the youth a bitter lesson for kicking against the relocation of some traders from the Race Course market to a reserved sanitary site in the area. In their attempt to resettle the displaced traders at the Race Course Market, the KMA decided to evacuate some of the traders to any available space they may come across. The KMA therefore directed the Bantama sub-metro to relocate fruits traders at the Race Course market to the reserved site at North. The youth in the area, who according to information contributed money to prepare the former dumping site to enable them to use the place as a football pitch, have kicked against the decision and have vowed to resist such an attempt. Residents in the area, Daily Guide gathered, have equally opposed the relocation of traders to the area on the basis that the activities of the traders would cause discomfort to them. The paper also learnt that the residents were not pleased about the intended relocation exercise because they used the place for social gatherings such as funerals. Due to this, when the NDC Bantama constituency chairman, who doubles as the chairman of the Bantama sub-metro council, led the traders to the site on Monday, the youth protested and did not allow the traders to take possession of the land. Determined to relocate the traders to the place in spite of the resistance from the youth, Mr. Aracio, on Tuesday, led a team of security personnel to the site to put the fear of God in the youth so that he could have his way and relocate the traders there. Immediately the security personnel arrived at the place, they started vandalizing the metal poles and nets the youth had erected for their football matches, angering the youth in the process. The youth defied all odds and tried to stop the security personnel from destroying their property, an occurrence which led to the security personnel beating the youth, after which they arrested four of them and detained them at the Sofoline Police Station. Reacting to the incidence, Mr. Aracio said it was untrue that the security personnel subjected the youth to severe beatings, pointing out that four persons who were proving stubborn were arrested. He said once majority of the youth had accepted the relocation exercise, the exercise would be carried out to ensure that the traders were fully resettled to continue their activities. The NDC chairman explained that the traders would be occupying the place temporarily for a month and that they would be moved to their permanent place at Sofoline when the place was ready.