Two persons died while five others sustained various injuries during the outdooring of a new paramount queen mother for the Mankessim Traditional Area, Nana Araba Otua II.
The dead included the Mfantsiman Municipal Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) director, Samuel Ampofo and an unidentified man aged about 27 years.
Among the injured was Inspector William Nyarko of the Mankessim Police, who had been referred to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and was responding to treatment.
Others, also on admission, were Kwesi Owusu, 65, Frederick Amoanoo Dadzie, 37, Nana Boako, 29, and Benedict Nana Banco, 29.
A reinforcement team of about 20 police personnel were deployed from the Central Regional Police Command to support the Mankessim Divisional and District Command.
Five persons were picked up by the police after the shooting and were currently assisting in investigations.
The outdooring of the paramount queen mother followed a Cape Coast High Court ruling directing the deletion of Nana Ama Amissah and Oseadeayo Amanfo Edu VI as queen mother and paramount chief of Mankessim, respectively from the register of the National House of Chiefs.
The firing of the gun happened at Anafo junction in Mankessim, a few metres from the palace, when the new queen mother was being carried in a palanquin in a procession through designated areas in the town.
A number of people around claimed that the gun was shot from a nearby storey building during the procession.
The confusion that erupted after the gunshot resulted in the new paramount queen mother and her entourage suspending the procession for about two hours, but they later reconvened and continued the procession without blemish.
The jubilating faction at the end of the event converged on the forecourt of the chief’s palace, where libation was offered for the new paramount queen mother and the entire traditional area.
They wore white headgear and white arm bands as they danced to the tune of traditional drums to signify their happiness regarding the outdooring.
The Omankyeame, Kojo Hagan, explained that, the new paramount queen mother would liaise with the Ebusuapanyin (family head) and other elders to nominate a new paramount chief for the Mankessim Traditional area.
He indicated that, the rites for the installation of Nana Araba Otuah II had been performed since 2002, but they were only waiting for the outcome of the legal process.
The Mankessim Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Owoahene Adjei Acheampong, told the Ghanaian Times that the police was investigating the shooting incident, and said “those who would be found to have engaged in the heinous act will be prosecuted.”
The Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Irene Opong, explained that a man, Nana Oboso, who was attacked by the processors and accused that he and others orchestrated the firing was on admission at Mercy Women’s Catholic Hospital in Mankessim.
DSP Opong said the police invaded the storey building where the gun was shot from and arrested the five suspects, adding that four live AA cartridges and two machetes were retrieved from the building.
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, MANKESSIM