HOHOE LOCATES PEACE PATH

The paramount chief for the Hohoe Traditional area in the Volta Region Togbega Gabusu has appealed to government to lift the curfew it imposed on the area some few months ago.
He said the impasse between the Muslims and some atives of the Gbi traditional area leading to loss of lives and properties is over and calm has been restored by all parties. He made this appeal when receiving the president to his palace in Hohoe , Togbega Gabusu urged those who fleed the area as a result of the conflict to return home. He said the people have resolved to live in peace to accelerate development. A FLASH BACK

In June 2012, two persons are reported to have been shot dead in Hohoe, while an unspecified number sustained injuries, during reprisal attacks between the Zongo community, on the one hand, and other residents of the town, on the other, early Monday. The palace of the Paramount Chief of the Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu, the Hohoe market and the lorry park were burnt down, while the Outpatients Department (OPD) of the Hohoe Municipal Hospital was vandalized. Daily Graphic report. A number of individual shops were also reported to have been destroyed in the reprisal attacks. The entire Hohoe town was held hostage, as residents remained indoors, while many travellers could not enter the town from Golokwati, Jasikan or Lolobi. The streets of the municipality remain deserted, with a tense atmosphere prevailing. A reinforcement of warriors or “Asafos” from Peki and Alavanyo was said to have arrived in the town, apparently to fight for and defend their kinsmen. The swift response by a police and military reinforcement, however, averted the escalation of hostilities and a possible bloodbath. What triggered the riot was reported as a member of the Zongo community there was electrocuted while working in the hospital compound.When he was sent to the hospital for medical attention, the authorities allegedly demanded his health insurance card before he any form of treatment is commenced. By the time the insurance card was sent to the hospital, the young man, whose identity was not immediately known, had died. The death of the young man was said to have angered some of the Zongo youth, who allegedly assaulted some members of staff of the hospital. The traditional authorities, angry at the action of the Zongo youth, banned the Muslim community from burying their dead on any Gbi (Hohoe) land. Following the ban, the Imam at Hohoe Zongo, Alhaji Alhassan, died and when the Zongo elders sought permission from Togbega Gabusu to bury him, the chief was said to have asked those who had assaulted the members of staff of the hospital to apologise before being granted permission to bury the dead. The reports indicated that the Zongo youth disregarded the chiefs request and went ahead to bury the Imam. For disregarding the order of the paramount chief, some Hohoe youth went and exhumed the corpse of the dead Imam and deposited it by the road side. That was said to have infuriated the Zongo youth, who went on rampage, setting the chief’s palace, vehicles, shops, markets and lorry parks ablaze and vandalising the Out Patient Department of the Hohoe Hospital The Government then imposed a dawn to dusk curfew which was subjects to revision.