The Western Regional Police Command on Monday spent hours restoring calm between the chiefs and people of Nsein and Lower Axim, following a near confrontation over the organization of activities marking the annual Kundum celebrations.
Tension reportedly heightened after chiefs and youth of Nsein moved to prevent the people of Axim from holding their traditional “Blue Monday” jamboree, one of the major activities preceding the climax of the Axim Kundum Festival.
The intervention of the police prevented the situation from escalating into a physical confrontation between the two neighbouring communities, which have for some time been embroiled in a dispute over land and traditional authority.
Though the police as at the time of filing the story were not readily available for comments, videos that have gone viral paints a picture of near confrontation but for the police intervention. But in another viral video online, Awulae Agyefi Kwame, the Nsein paramount chief is heard loud at the durbar of his Kundum Festival threatening that if the police didn’t allow for the celebration of the white Monday by Nsein, surely there would be no blue Monday celebration for the people of Axim.
The latest incident according to information obtained by this paper follows an earlier decision by the police to stop the people of Nsein from holding their own “White Monday” celebration on security grounds.
According to information available to The Chronicle, the Nsein celebration coincided with the commencement of the traditional Esiedu observance in Axim, a period during which traditional restrictions, including a ban on noise-making, are observed. Nsein shifted the date of the Kundum festival forward because, hitherto, the people of Axim celebrate their annual Kundum festival before Nsein.
The police were therefore said to have considered the simultaneous holding of the two activities a potential security risk and advised against the Nsein event. The situation was further complicated when the Nsein paramount chief reportedly wrote to the police seeking permission to lead his people to pour libation at a fort located within Axim.
The police, however, declined the request, citing fears that the ceremony could trigger a confrontation between the two sides. The restrictions meant that some of the traditional activities associated with the Nsein Kundum climax could not take place in their usual form.
Traditionally, the Nsein Omanhene rides in a palanquin to the durbar grounds during the climax of the festival. On Saturday, however, which was the climax of the Nsein Kundum festival, the Omanhene and his sub-chiefs decided to walk to the durbar grounds instead.
The chiefs and their entourage were clad in red and black, a gesture that was interpreted by some observers as a sign of protest over the manner in which the celebrations had unfolded and the restrictions imposed on them.
The latest development has brought renewed attention to the long-running tensions between Nsein and Axim, particularly over land and traditional jurisdiction. Earlier this year, the Nsein Omanhene reportedly threatened to prevent the people of Axim from occupying what he described as Nsein land.
He openly at a press conference claimed authority over the land on which portions of Axim are situated and warned the Axim Omanhene to seek permission from him before undertaking certain traditional activities, including the celebration of Kundum and the burial of the dead.
The Nsein traditional authority gave the people of Axim up to the end of July to vacate the area it claimed belonged to Nsein. The Axim Omanhene in a counter press conference called bluff of the Nsein Omanhene.
Those assertions, however, have remained a subject of contention and have heightened concerns about the potential for the traditional dispute to spill over into community relations.
