About nine people are feared dead following a stampede at the Asawase Community in the Kumasi Metropolis.
Those who died were part of party lovers who took part in a Salah jam in the area to climax the Eid-ul Fitr celebration.
Reports indicate that those who died comprised six females and three males.
Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka who confirmed the incident on the Citi Breakfast Show, blamed it on an alleged fight that emanated among some youth groups in the area.
He explained that massive carnivals are usually held in Asawase to commemorate Eid celebrations but stakeholders had complained about fights among youth groups which characterizes such events.
“Normally we always have a big carnival anytime there is Eid in Kumasi. But we realised that in recent times the youth will normally put themselves into fun clubs…having their canopies group by group. So we realised that the thing was getting out of hand because sometimes, they will wait until around midnight and there will be a fight between one group or the other and then you will hear all sorts of things happening.”
The MP said they announced that “we are not going to allow the carnival to last more than 8:30pm.”
He added that around 9pm on Wednesday, the Police were dispatched to stop the jam from proceeding saying unknown to them, some of the youth groups proceeded to the Asawase Community centre to continue with the celebration.
“…not knowing that, a group had relocated from the carnival environs where we all know that this thing normally happens into the Asawase community centre which is far away from the carnival ground. We didn’t expect that people will go to these areas.”
Alhaji Muntaka said he had been told by some of the jubilant that “everything was going on well until around 3am when two groups had a fight and then they brought the fight into the community centre and in a bid for people to rush out of the community centre, there was this stampede.”
The MP however added that the Police are investigating the matter.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin