Wassa Akropong: Youth set up checkpoints to hunt down Chinese

Some angry youth of Wassa Akropong in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western Region, have set up checkpoints on the Wassa Akropong High street in search of Chinese nationals following the killing of a Ghanaian last Friday.

There had been chaotic scenes since last Friday after a 30-year-old Ghanaian, Nana Boah, a lotto operator, was shot by a Chinese national after a dispute over services rendered by another resident, who is a plumber.

The youth are demanding prosecution of the Chinese national who carried out the dastardly act, as the police have made four arrests so far.

But the arrests have done little to appease the irate youth who are bent on ensuring that Wassa Akropong is rid of all Chinese, even after the intervention of the Paramount Chief of the Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II on Saturday.

It was thought that some calm was returning to the town and police had relocated about 48 Chinese nationals to safety.

However, by Sunday, the youth had set up checkpoints with revenge on their minds, as they lamented the seeming neo-colonization by Chinese leading to the area also adopting the name ‘Wassa Shanghai’.

There is already a sense of resentment for Chinese because of their involvement in illegal mining, especially in the Western Region.

One of the youths who spoke to Citi News said: “The problem is that our brother has been killed. We don’t understand. We see it as a modernization of slave trade. We are in our own country, but we are still under the slave trade. The Chinese have modernized the slave trade.”

“They come from their country and come and kill our brother over here, and the military and the police are still protecting the Chinese which is very bad and we don’t understand.”

He questioned further why the security personnel were preventing them from “also taking revenge” following the death on Friday, said they want to ensure that all Chinese nationals are driven out of the area.

“People are keeping the Chinese in their houses, they are protecting them and we don’t want that. We want all the Chinese away from Akropong. That is all that we want. We don’t want any Chinese in Akropong again. We are fed up with them. They should go to their home country.”

The story so far

Initial reports had suggested that the gun was accidentally fired by the Chinese killing the Ghanaian, during an altercation between two Chinese nationals at a Casino.

Eyewitnesses told Citi News that the incident was triggered when a plumber who was hired by some Chinese nationals to undertake some services called on the deceased, as a witness, after the Chinese refused to pay the GHc150 he charged. During the confrontation, a gun brought out by one of the Chinese was seized by the two Ghanaians but a second gun was reportedly fired by the Chinese, killing the witness, Nana Boamah instantly.

The incident angered the youth of the town who burnt and vandalized properties belonging to the Chinese nationals.

14 cars burnt, Chinese business demolished

So far, about 14 cars belonging to the Chinese, as well as some of their shops, have been burnt by the irate youth.

Source: citifmonline.com