Ga Mantse palace invaded by land guards

Accra, May 21, GNA - A group of people, purported to be acting on the instructions of one Ayitey Canada, on Friday invaded the Ga Mantse's Pala= ce and locked the main gate of the palace.

Mr Clement Nii Tackie Teiko, one of the caretakers at the Palace, t= old the GNA that some of the people were transported to the palace in buses, others used motorbikes and they carried machetes and other offensive weapons. He said the attackers locked the boys' quarters of the palace that houses some of the caretakers of the palace.

Mr Teiko said at about 0600 hours they found that the compound of t= he palace had been invaded by a group of young men who locked the main gate from both inside and outside.

He said they confronted some of the young men and when they moved o= ut of the palace compound they spotted another group of young men near the D= an's Bar filling station. Mr Teiko said he phoned the police and within a few minutes, police= men from the Kaneshie Division arrived and ordered the group to unlock the ma= in gate of the palace.

He said later additional police re-enforcement was brought in from t= he Accra Regional Headquarters and the group was ordered to leave the foreco= urt of the palace. Mr Teiko said the group was well coordinated and that the men were aware that the Ga Traditional Council was sitting on a case involving the= Ga Mantse at Dodowa on Friday.

Attempts by the GNA to talk to the police proved futile since none of the officers was prepared to talk to the media. "This is a chieftaincy issue and we do not want to get involved," one of them said. At the time the GNA was leaving the Ga Mantse's Palace the police had beefed up security at the place to ensure law and order.