Some landowners and indigenes of Obeyeyie, a suburb of Gbestsile in the Kpone Katamanso District, are accusing the Gbetsile police of bias in their handling of the maltreatment meted out to them by land guards in the locality.
According to them, land guards have over the past years been disturbing them, but several reports made to the Gbetsile police have yielded no result.
To the residents, they have lost hope in the police, and if the Inspector General of Police (IGP) does not act swiftly to address the land guard menace in the area, they would be forced to take the law into their own hands.
The residents noted that, last Friday, one Ahmed, a known land guard in the area together with some soldiers attacked them on their lands.
“We have over the past years been living under constant attack by these land guards without the police doing anything about it. We always have to run for our lives because on several occasions, we have gone to the Gbetsile police to report our case to them but they rather end up arresting us instead.”
They mentioned one Ransford Tetteh a.k.a Killer, and one Ahmed, who is believed to be an ex-soldier, as the leaders of the land guards who have been terrorizing them any time they go to work on their lands.
The residents also alleged that, the chief land guard, Armed, together with his boys, are usually accompanied by soldiers who join hands to brutalize them on their lands.
“We are appealing to the Inspector General of Police to as a matter of urgency ensure sanity in the system by clamping down on these land guards who are giving us sleepless nights. We cannot endure all these land guards activities anymore. The security services must as well clean the service of corrupt policemen and soldiers who aide land guards to carry out their operations,” an angry landowner, named only as George, lamented.
“We have been to the police several times and they seem not to be concerned about our reports made to them. What is more hurting is how soldiers team up with these land guards to terrorize us, beat us up and fire gun shots sporadically at us on our lands.”
The worried residents continued that “we have police medical forms and hospital reports as well as pictures of some of the atrocities suffered in the hands of these land guards, which have received no attention from the Gbetsile police.”
They however called on the police hierarchy and the military high command, to come to their aid, since they feel unsafe in the community because of the activities of these land guards.
The menace of lang guards causing mayhem and making life uncomfortable for land owners, is a national issue yet to be fully addressed by government and the various security agencies.
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By: Elvis Washington/citifmoline.com/Ghana