'Sack My DCE'

What was supposed to be a joyous occasion last Friday turned sour and embarrassing for the Jaman South District Chief Executive (DCE), Julius Atta Bediako when the Paramount chief for the Drobo Traditional Area publicly asked the visiting Brong Ahafo Regional Minister to sack the DCE for disrespecting the chiefs. �I want you to sack Atta Bediako because he is a bully and has shown gross disrespect to the chiefs. It is better for him to be sacked in order to have our peace than to maintain him since he is just a single individual,� Beyeman Busea Gyenantwi IV, the Drobohene told the Regional Minister in the presence of the beleaguered DCE and the members of the public. The Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo visited the Drobohene�s palace as part of his familiarization tour of the district to interact with the chiefs and people of the area and to also inspect on-going and completed projects. Mr. Aidoo earlier visited the Jaman North District and interacted with the Sampa, Suma-Ahenkro and Seketia/Kwatwuma Traditional Council respectively. He also inspected the Emergency Block of the Sampa Government Hospital, which is near completion, Sampa District Education Office Block project, the new Sampa District Police Headquarters and the Sampa Fire Station. Interestingly, the Minister was led to the Drobohene�s palace by the DCE, Atta Bediako, who is said to have incurred the wrath of the chief following his alleged disrespect for the chiefs and the bullying of the people. According to the Drobohene, he appealed for the construction of a district police headquarters and barracks at Drobo and showed the DCE a land for that purpose. He said the project was approved but the DCE suddenly diverted it to a sister community, Japekrom without any reason. Beyeman Busea Gyenantwi further said the chiefs at a point in time allocated a large parcel of land to the District Assembly to be developed as a District Sports Stadium, but the DCE failed to execute the said project. The chief accused the DCE of falling to continue the construction of the two-storey District Assembly Office complex, which has been left to deteriorate in the bush. The Drobohene described the DCE as a threat to the peace and security of the district since he intended to mount tension at Drobo and Japekrom which have litigated over land for many years. The chief also appealed to the Minister to rehabilitate the bad roads linking the district capital since most of them are in a sorry state. Earlier before the Paramount mounted the stage, the Gyaasehene of Drobo Traditional Area, Nana Amo Yeboah Asuamah bitterly complained about the actions and inaction of Hon. Atta Bediako to the Regional Minister. The Regional Minister, for his part, appealed to the chiefs to exercise restraint, stressing that he would address their grievances. Later during a courtesy call on the Mpuaso-Japekrom Traditional Council, the Aduanahene, who doubles as the Acting President of the Council, Nana Amoabeng Asare Kontimako III, representing the President, Okatakyie Amoa Aturu Nkonkonkyia, argued that Japekrom is the most appropriate place for the construction of the district police headquarters since it was the first town in the then Jaman District to obtain a police station many years ago. Nana Amoabeng told the Regional Minister that the Drobohene has no case regarding the siting of the police headquarters because the Drobo lands belong to the Japekrom chief. He explained that the courts ruled in their favour as far as the Japekrom-Drobo lands dispute are concerned. The Acting President said he and his people are peace-loving and would want to resort to dialogue to address the current impasse with regards to the siting of the district police headquarters and other related land disputes. The chief appealed to the Regional Minister to ensure that the Japekrom-Berekum Highway, which is in a deplorable state, is rehabilitated to give comfort to commuters. At the meeting with the chiefs in the Sampa Traditional Council, the Acting President, Nana Kwadwo Magsah urged Mr. Aidoo to save the cashew business, which is the main occupation of the people in the area from collapsing. The chief noted that the price of cashew has drastically reduced from GHC1.50 per kilo two years ago to 50ps per kilo this year. He said the farmers are being exploited by the private buyers, mostly Indians. This, he said, is collapsing the cashew industry because the current price is a huge disincentive to farmers. The Acting President also appealed to the Regional Minister to see to the construction of the deplorable roads in the district, as well as the completion of abandoned government projects.