Gomoa Central Member of Parliament, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, has dismissed suggestions that the government failed to act on warnings about a potential violent confrontation over a land dispute between communities in the Gomoa and Effutu areas.
According to him, the Ministry of the Interior and other state institutions took steps to investigate concerns he had raised before the recent violent clashes at New Winneba and surrounding communities.
The clashes, believed to have been triggered by a land dispute involving residents of Effutu and Gomoa, left three people dead and 15 others injured.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, September 2, A Plus said he began efforts to clarify the boundaries between Gomoa Central and Effutu shortly after becoming a Member of Parliament.
“Government didn’t fail. The Interior Minister did everything he had to do,” he said.
He explained that he first wrote to the Lands Commission requesting clarity on the boundaries between Gomoa Central and Effutu to prevent potential confrontations over administrative and traditional boundaries.
According to him, the Commission subsequently provided him with a comprehensive report identifying the respective lands belonging to Gomoa and Effutu.
A Plus said he also wrote to the Ministry of Local Government to seek clarification on the boundaries of the Gomoa Central District and received a response.
“And they gave me a reply. When I received those correspondence, I wrote to the Ministry of Interior and stated that, based on the correspondence that I have received from the two institutions, this is Gomoa and this is Efutu.”
He said there was a particular area located deep within Gomoa where votes cast during elections were counted as part of the Effutu constituency.
“There’s a particular area in my constituency where votes that are cast there are counted in a different constituency,” he said.
A Plus explained that he sought to understand the Legislative Instrument that established the Gomoa Central District and the circumstances that led to the arrangement.
He said the Ministry of the Interior subsequently conducted its own investigations and research into the matter.
According to him, the Ministry later communicated its findings to the Ghana Police Service and called for the necessary corrections to be made.
“The Ministry of Interior also did its own investigation. They did their own research and they wrote to the Ghana Police Service telling them that this is the situation and so they have to correct it,” he said.
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