The community of Kwame Kyenkrom in the Ahafo-Ano South East District of the Ashanti Region has become a ghost town, following the demise of a Wangara farmer.
A dispute over a parcel of farm land which has become a bone of contention in the last five years found within a forest under the care of the Forestry Commission led to the demise of a 38 years old farmer.
The farmer is said to have died following an argument over a farm boundary which turned into a fight.
Information available to this paper has it that, about four men who are of Kokomba descent descended on the poor man and beat him to death.
Soon after the demise of their relative, the Wangara community attacked the Kokomba community, burning thatched houses and destroying other properties.
Information available to this paper has it that, not long ago, the possession of the embattled land changed from Akans to the Kokomba community, a development which led to tension.
In a telephone interaction with the Assembly Member for Kwame Kyemkrom, Evans Antwi Agyei, he confirmed the incident.
According to Antwi Agyei, the incident might have happened in the morning and was brought to their attention in the evening.
He told this paper that there was a parcel of land which they had been working on, and because the area was increasingly becoming a cocoa farm enclave, people do not get land to work on, so they farm on a parcel of land which belongs to the Forestry Commission.
The Assembly Member noted that, in the last few months, the leader of the Kokomba community had brought a lot of Kokombas into the forest and has drilled boreholes for them so they do not come home and are always in the forest.
“When the indigenes go to the forest to find a piece of land to work on, the Kokomba fight the indigenes,” he said.
He disclosed to this paper that last week Wednesday morning, the deceased is said to have argued with four people over land boundaries, which degenerated into a fight.
Evans Agyei said: “Four people beat him and twisted his neck, and this might have happened in the morning.”
Speaking to the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Ahafo-Ano South East, Thomas Owusu Ansah, he disclosed to The Chronicle that the issue was about land.
Owusu Ansah, however, indicated that the police had restored order to Kwame Kyemkrom.
He noted that the incident had seen a number of people displaced and that the Assembly had provided temporary shelter for them, adding that the District Security Coordinating Council (DISEC) had invited the Forestry Commission to find out who gave out the land to the Kokombas.
