Hohoe Assembly goes bankrupt due to communal clashes
Dr Margaret Kweku, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has said that the communal skirmishes between the Gbis and a section of Hohoe Zongo Youths, has rendered the Assembly bankrupt.
She said the Assembly has incurred a whooping loss of GH¢161,572 from feeding the security forces for only two weeks, when the communal clash broke out on June 11, this year.
Dr Kweku, who made this revelation during its Assembly meeting on Tuesday, said the security high command came to their rescue when they decided to ration their supplies.
She said the Assembly was indebted to several social service providers, among them are caterers, fuel stations and hoteliers.
For instance, the MCE said bills accruing from the Galaxy Fuel station alone for security operations and patrols cost over GH¢40,000.
She said Demork Hotel was yet to submit its bills but was charging GH¢150 per day for the use of its conference hall, which was converted into a hostel for the security forces, excluding rooms for senior officers during the conflict.
“This is just a fraction of our debts situation resulting from the clashes. The real costs are unprecedented and gargantuan,” DrKweku said in response to members’ quest to know the impact of the clashes on the Assembly’s finances.
She said “it will take the restoration of peace and normalcy for the Assembly’s financial situation to improve,” and appealed to the feuding groups to give peace a chance.
Dr Kweku disclosed that two people, Pascal and Bright Butah, who met their untimely deaths in the crossfire, would be buried this weekend “all things being equal.”
“This will pave the way for the inauguration of the Mediation Committee to commence work and give recommendations towards total reconciliation,” she added.
The MCE appealed to the Assembly-members to sensitize their constituents to volunteer information to the Committee when it commences work.
Mr Newton Darkey, Presiding Member appealed to the people “to be calm in this trying moments.”
He is optimistic that the area would bounce back as soon as peace was restored and justice seen to be discharged.
Communal clashes broke between the indigenes of Gbi and some Youths from Hohoe Zongo, stemming from a misunderstanding of the burial of an Imam and earlier electrocution of a Muslim youth, after which the youths mobilized to vandalise the Palace of Togbega Gabusu VI, Paramount Chief of the Gbi Traditional Area.
A curfew has since been imposed on the area to date with economic activities picking up.
Source: GNA