Six Dead, Ten Arrested Over Renewed Doba-Kandiga Land Dispute

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Six people including an old man of over 100 years have been killed, while four others sustained various degrees of injuries, following renewed violence over a land dispute between the people of Doba in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality and Kandiga in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region at the weekend.

About ten suspects have been arrested and weapons have been retrieved from them by security personnel who were immediately deployed to the conflict area to end the violence.

The injured are receiving treatment at the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo.

According to Superintendent Francis Opong Agyare, the Navrongo Municipal Police Commander, about 12 houses were set ablaze and the situation compelled many residents from the two communities to seek refuge elsewhere, particularly the Bolgatanga Municipality.

In April, 2020, a communal conflict ensued between the two communities when one side of the factions, the Kandiga community dug a foundation at Akonkongo-Abempengo Electoral Area to facilitate the processes of putting up a Police post and a Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compound.

That did not go down well with the chief and people of Doba who claimed that they were the rightful owners of the said land where the projects were being constructed and wondered why the Kandiga people whom they described as settlers did not inform them.

This eventually resulted into gunshots leading to the death of a 78-year old man and burning of some houses and farms in the area, forcing the Regional Security Committee to impose a curfew in the area and 31 persons were arrested and arraigned before the Bolgatanga High Court.

Giving an account of what triggered the recent incident, the Police Commander, said about five individuals from Kandiga were arrested and remanded about a week ago following the murder of a 19-year old man and the suspects were granted bail by the Bolgatanga High Court.

He said some people in Kandiga community begun to celebrate and hail the suspects as heroes upon their return to the community, and that did not go down well with the Doba people resulting in the reprisal attack.

Superintendent Agyare noted that a joint military-police team had been deployed to the communities to maintain law and order, whilst the police were conducting its investigations into the incident.

The Municipal Police commander revealed after Kassena-Nankana Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) meeting, that a proposal had been made to the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to consider involving the national security to boost security in the areas, while urging government to take custody of the disputed land to bring finality and peace to the protracted conflict.

Meanwhile, Mr Williams Aduum, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area, who is also the Chairman of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Security Committee, has appealed to the people to stop the conflict since they were all one.

By: GNA