Chief�s Palace �Bombed�

THE YOUTH of Osiem in the East Akim municipality of the Eastern region on Thursday went on rampage over the installation of a new queen-mother for the town, leading to bloodshed and shit-bombing of the chief�s palace. The youth were said to have objected to the nomination and installation of one Akosua Nyarkoa, niece of Osabarima Kweku Poku III, the chief of the town. Osabarima Poku II, according to security sources, defied the security implications of the purported outdooring of his niece as the queenmother of the town and went ahead to outdoor her on Thursday. This led to disturbances by the youth who thought another candidate for the position had been given a raw deal. Most of the youth on the side of the other candidate, whose name was given as Dokua, pelted the new queen-mother with stones as she was being paraded through the town, resulting in a free-for-all between the youth of the two opposing sides. Four people were injured in the disturbances. One group collected a bucketful of human excreta and sprayed the palace and another bucketful was also sprayed on some of the people in the queen-mother�s procession. The new queen-mother had to seek refuge in someone�s house to avoid being attacked. It took the timely intervention of the Eastern regional police command to send riot-control policemen to the town to calm matters. Some warning shots were fired before the rampaging youth dispersed. Tension was still mounting in the evening as the youth opposed to the outdooring of the new queen-mother threatened to burn down the main transformer in the town. Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the chief of the town, Osabarima Poku III, accused one Nana Boateng II, former chief of the town, of being behind the action of the youth. Osabarima Poku III said Nana Boateng had always been instigating the youth of the town to oppose any good thing that he did for the town. �Nana Boateng was destooled in 1989 by PNDC executive instrument and since then, he has been the cause of all confusions in this town,� Osabarima Poku alleged. According to him, a candidate was first chosen from Nana Boateng�s house but the candidate declined the offer and so another person from a different gate who happened to be his niece was chosen. He explained that since the choice of the new queen-mother which had been endorsed by the Abusuapanin and elders of the town, Nana Boateng had been fighting him, saying that he wanted someone from his family to be the queen-mother, hence the action of the youth. Nana Boateng has denied all the allegations made against him by the chief, saying he did not know anything about the rioting by the youth.