Tension mounts in Peki-Tsito area

The Ho Police have beefed up security in the Peki and Tsito Traditional areas to forestall any resurgence of hostilities following a shooting incident on Sunday March 17, which claimed the life of Alex Kudzo Gbemeh, a citizen of Tsito.

Nine others were injured, out of this, five were treated and discharged at the Ho Regional Hospital while four, Wisdom Dzadake, Alice Samovi, 40, William Agbo, alias Papa, 20, Ebenezer Asempah, 31 and Dickson Bani, 34 have been admitted at the hospital.

Mr James Amo, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in-charge of Volta Region, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that on March 17 at about 1400 hours, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Kpho and Togbe Dzadake, citizens of Tsito Awudome reported a shooting incident to the Anyinase Police.

The two told the Police that 15 members of a newly formed Tsito Young Boys Association had been shot at while working on a community farm at "Graphic-Koe", a disputed land on the border between Tsito and Peki, at about 0800 hours on Sunday by unknown assailants suspected to be Pekis.

Mr Amo said on the prompting of Kpoh and Dzadeke that a member of the Association was missing, a search party comprising the Police, elders and some citizens of Tsito found Gbemeh, who was confirmed dead at the Regional Hospital at Ho and the body was deposited at its mortuary.

Mr Amo said reports indicated that the Tsito Association had been to the scene of the incident on March 10, to clear the land and that the incident happened on their second visit to the farm. He said the Police were undertaking a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack and were making efforts to contact leaders of the two traditional areas.

Mr Amo said at present, calm had returned to the area, however, the Police were not taking things for granted and have, therefore, intensified patrols and sharpened security prerequisites on the ground to deal with any breach of the law. Meanwhile, a Regional Security Council meeting had been scheduled for Thursday to review the security situation in the area, Mr Amoh said.