Nine arrested after clashes over chieftaincy in Teshie leaves one injured, shrine burnt

At least, nine persons involved in violent clashes at Teshie, a suburb of Accra, have been arrested by the police after an incident on Thursday, August 5.

According to a police spokesperson, the arrests were made on Friday, August 6.

At the base of the incident is a chieftaincy dispute between two factions. One person was reportedly shot in the leg while a shrine belonging to a traditional priest was burnt to the ground.

Speaking to a local radio station on Friday, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, Chief Inspector Kwame Danso, mentioned that the Division Commander held a meeting with opinion leaders in the area concerning the clashes.

The information available to The Ghana Report alleged that men with guns besieged that home of the shrine and fired some shots. These men are also believed to be the ones behind the fire that was set to the shrine.

The Ghana Report will update this story with further details of what happened on the day of the clash as well as the progress of police investigations.

The stool in Teshie is at the moment a bone of contention between one faction led by the chief, Nii Ashitey Akomfra III and Paul Akporh Sowah, the shikitele or secretary to the Teshie Traditional Council. The latter is also aided by a sub-chief, Nii Nortey Tuaka II, shipi of Teshie.

In 2019, a letter by the shikitele and ship of Teshie to the National House of Chiefs requested that the name of Nii Ashitey Akomfra III be expunged from the register of the House of Chiefs.

“Our intelligence gathered pointed to the fact that the said Dr Kotei Dzanie went and manipulated the Osu Mantse who happened to be the president of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs and the Minister of Chieftaincy for the name of the candidate selected by the fact finding committee to be changed and be replaced by the said Gbetse Nii Ashitey Akomfra III,” the letter claimed.