The chief and elders of the Gbetseli stool have expressed their displeasure at attacks by some unscrupulous persons with evil intentions to distract the peace and tranquility in the area in order to execute their selfish agenda.
A statement signed by Mr Samuel Tettey, secretary to the Gbetsile Stool described Gbetseli as a traditional area with a substantive gazetted chief whose installation is backed by king makers and the paramount stool.
The statement noted that the area had no chieftaincy litigation and urged members of the general public to disregard reports in sections of the media which sought to suggest that there was some form of chieftaincy litigation in the area.
The statement pointed out that there were some troublemakers just like with every social setting.
“The stool finds it unfortunate that while it has decided to focus on the developmental needs of the area, some self-seeking troublemakers who have engaged in charlatanism are bent on fortifying themselves in perpetuating more evil activities,” parts of the statement read.
The statement continued that it has noticed a worrying and disturbing trend where some policemen have been allegedly roped in by these people to pursue the evil agenda at the blind side of the leadership of the police service.
Speaking to a wide-range of issues which took place in the area over a period of time which is aimed at discrediting the Gbetsile Stool, the statement mentioned that the Gbetseli stool, led by Nii Teye Kojo Amankwah Sune I, has, for the umpteenth time, disputed claims by one Iddrisu Mansro from Apolonia.
The said Mansro, according to the Nii Amankwah Sune I, has allegedly sold and is still selling some Gbetsile Stool lands under the guise that those lands are part of Apolonia lands.
“This same Iddrisu Mansro who is not a regent of Appolonia has become a torn in the flesh of the chiefs and people of Appolonia with his antiques of taking over the lands of the area.
The decision by the chiefs and people of Gbetseli not to allow such a character the chance to take over the Gbetseli stool lands, has ignited a sense of enmity in Mr. Mansro,” the statement said.
The statement further pointed out that it is for the fear that this decision by the Gbetseli Stool against him (Iddrisu Mansro) will nullify all the dubious stool lands he reportedly sold to certain individuals, that he is reportedly going round making claims to the title ‘regent’, a position the Gbetseli Stool said does not even exist in its neighbouring community because Apolonia has a gazetted chief in the person of Nii Nuertey Amobi II.
Mansro, the statement added, with support of some two persons who are associating themselves to the Gbetseli stool, have decided to foment trouble by allegedly introducing land guards activities to the area; an action which the stool led by Nii Amankwah Sune I, partnered with the military to flush out of the area.
The stool, is said to have as part of plans in ensuring that its’ lands are safe from the dubious plans of Iddrisu Mansro and his cohorts, petitioned the Property Fraud Section of the Ghana Police Service and are waiting for action to be taken on that.
“However, it has become evident that whilst the stool have decided to remain resolute in protecting Gbetseli’s property through the legal means, Mr Iddrisu Mansro and his allies have since changed their modus operandi to accusing the stool of involving in land guards activities; a claim the stool flatly denied adding that it could not be true. Gbetseli lands are stool lands and the stool doesn’t need any land guards to protect it. The reverse is rather the truth” the statement said.
The stool has also observed that these troublemakers seem to have succeeded in planting false stories in sections of the media and allegedly compromising some police officers to intimidate the traditional leaders and to force them into submission to their whims and caprices.
On Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at about 8:00am, four residents of Gbetseli, Ex-military man W. O. Ahamed Tetteh, Rockson Elisha Vegan (son to the Stool Father of Gbetsile) and two masons who were hired by a developer who bought some land from the Stool, were going about their normal business when they were taken hostage at gunpoint into a car (which belongs to the son of Iddrisu Mansro) for about an hour by some police officers purported to have come from the Anti -terrorism Unit from the police headquarters in Accra and then subsequently handed them over to the police.
The persons taken hostage were alleged to have been involved in land guard activities; something the said police officers have since failed to substantiate. These police officers were led by a known civilian, Tettey, a son of Iddrisu Mansro together with some well-known land guards who have no business doing in Gbetseli.
The statement expressed shock at brutality meted out to the four who were arrested. It further pointed out that they were brutally assaulted and whisked into a waiting vehicle of Tettey and locked behind bars for two day before being granted police bail.
It described the situation as a clear case of their human right being abuses and wondered why the arresting officers did not involve police from the EMEF Police Station and the Tema Police Regional Command who have both denied knowledge of any complaint against the four who are accused of being land guards. The questions the chiefs and elders of the Gbetseli stool are asking the police are as follows.
“How do you accuse people you picked from their house and places of work as being a land guards without any proof against them, why is the Tema Regional Police Command and the District police not aware of such operations, we ask again that if the police is so interested in the so called land guards activities in Gbetseli, what has become of the petition by the Gbetseli stool to the police which was lodged earlier,” the concluding part of the statement queried.
If professional policing means neutrality in dealing with challenges in society, how would the police who caused the arrest of the four persons, explain their dealing with the Mansros, the statement asked.
According to the press statement, the questions posed and some others on their minds is a call on the Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service to intervene to ensure that certain members of the police service are not comprised in taking certain decisions which in the end goes to play in favour of these self-seeking trouble makers.
“For us, we shall maintain, and protect what rightful belong to us at all cost. We also call on our friends from the media to do your work with all the objective there is and don’t allow yourselves to be compromised by certain individual to perpetuate their evil agenda. We are by this calling on all residents of Gbetseli to remain calm and collaborate with the stool for the larger development of the area” the statement concluded.