Full Text: Banda-Ahenkro Youth Bare Teeth at Banda Kabrono Chief

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PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE YOUTH OF BANDA-AHENKRO DATED 2ND JANUARY 2021 AT BANDA AHENKRO: IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY THE CHIEF OF BANDA KABRONO IN SUPPORT OF KWAME BAFFOE ABRONYE’S INSULTS

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we, the youth of Banda-Ahenkro in the Banda District of the Bono Region, on behalf of all the people of Banda-Ahenkro, thank you for honouring our invitation in such short notice.

Happy New Year! The purpose of this emergency press conference is simple.

We noted with utmost surprise a press conference held on Monday 28 December 2020 by one Sah Kyame Siniapem II, chief of Banda Kabrono, also in the Banda District, in reaction to the press conference the chiefs and people of Banda-Ahenkro held on behalf of all of us on the 22 December 2020 on Kwame Baffoe “Abronye’s scandalous insult of all the people of Banda-Ahenkro as “murderers and cannibals” on Oman FM’s “Boiling Point Programme on the 17 December 2020.

It is significant to note that as natives of Banda-Ahenkro, we, the youth of Banda-Ahenkro, were also insulted by Abronye who was ably defended by the Kabrono chief in his press conference. Thus, as future leaders of tomorrow, we hold it a sacred duty to defend our integrity as we want to respond to the Kabrono chief since he and Abronye have embarked on an agenda to destroy the hard-won reputation of Banda-Ahenkro and the future it holds for us, the youth of Banda-Ahenkro and all its people.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, quite frankly, we were really shocked to the marrow as a result of the press conference held by the Kabrono chief. This is because, first and foremost, “Abronye” who granted the interview on Oman FM and insulted all Banda-Ahenkro people was not the person who held the press conference to substantiate his claims. But rather it was the chief of Kabrono who came to muddy the waters with his shameful defence of Abronye’s vulgarity.

We do not know whether or not the Kabrono chief is now the spokesman for “Abronye” as we found it difficult to come to terms with the reason(s) why he chose to meddle in the matter between Abronye and the people of Banda-Ahenkro.

In fact, the crux of the matter is Abronye’s insult of Banda-Ahenkro people as “murderers and cannibals”. Banda-Ahenkro Chiefs never said anywhere in their press conference that the Kabrono chief insulted Banda-Ahenkro people or conspired with Abronye to insult us.

That was why Banda Ahenkro chiefs, in their press conference, never asked the Kabrono chief to substantiate any claim or retract and apologise to us. It was Abronye we asked to do so because he insulted us on Oman FM.

So, what at all warranted the Kabrono chief to jump into this matter and said categorically that “what Abronye said about Banda-Ahenkro people, that, (they are “lawless, violent, and, murderers and cannibals”) are all true, and there is no need to for him to apologise to Banda-Ahenkro people”? It beats our imagination!

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, was it not surprising to note that in the Kabrono chief’s press conference in defence of Abronye, he too, like Abronye, did not state with proven evidence when and who Banda-Ahenkro people “lawlessly and violently murdered and ate up their flesh”?

So, is it because the Kabrono chief hate Banda-Ahenkro chiefs and the people, so whatever Abronye lied about us, he has to defend Abronye against his sworn enemies even if the matter does not concern him? Pity indeed!

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, again, assuming the Kabrono chief was truly the paramount chief of Banda as he claimed in his press conference to support Abronye’s insult without any justification or proof whatsoever against Banda-Ahenkro people, would it not have been an indictment on him as a paramount chief to superintend over one of the towns in his traditional area whose people are “murderers and cannibals” for all these years but he failed to let the law take its cause against them? And he is been silently living with us for all these years until Abronye’s outburst?

In another development, ladies and gentlemen of the media, did you also hear the Kabrono chief, in trying hard to defend Abronye’s insult of Banda-Ahenkro people as “murderers and cannibals”, said that: “Banda-Ahenkro people had never allowed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to campaign in their town including the 2020 elections”?

One may ask where from this infusion from the Kabrono chief? Just to cause disaffection between the NPP government and Banda-Ahenkro? Even Abronye who is the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP did not make this claim when he was insulting us.

We do not know whether or not the Kabrono chief is no longer a chief but rather now holding two portfolios: “Abronye’s Spokesman and the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NPP for Banda Constituency”. Can you imagine this person, claiming to be a Paramount Chief? Thank God, he is not. By his conduct and open support of Abronye’s outrageous insult and related matters, the Kabrono chief has exposed himself as who he really is. If he does not know, he has sold his conscience, his Banda identity, and the little respect he had for Abronye. If he thinks that because of his hatred and jealousy of Banda-Ahenkro, its Chiefs and People, Abronye is insulting only Banda-Ahenkro people as a non-native of BANDAMAN, then, he is not a true Banda blood. If he does not know, Abronye is indirectly insulting ALL BANDA PEOPLE.

How many people outside Banda Traditional Area will identify you from which town you come from? They know you as a Banda person. For, our elders say that “it is only a fool who will look on unconcerned while his or her neighbour’s house is on fire”. But we want to assure the Kabrono chief that the hatchet job given to him by his MASTER(S) will not work in this matter.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we want to reiterate the earlier call by our chiefs here in Banda-Ahenkro in our first press conference. That, our press conference was not about Kabrono people calling Banda-Ahenkro people, “murderers and cannibals”.

That, it was not about NPP people calling Banda-Ahenkro people “murderers and cannibals”. And it was not about NPP against Banda-Ahenkro. It was about Kwame Baffoe “Abronye” calling all Banda-Ahenkro people “murderers and cannibals”.

In the same press conference, Nananom renewed our call for the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the killers of Silas Wulo Chame of Banda-Ahenkro who was brutally murdered in front of the NPP’s Constituency Office in Kabrono where the Kabrono chief hails from.

These are matters of verifiable facts, not concocted or imagined. But ironically, he, the Kabrono chief, is rather supporting Abronye’s claim that “Banda-Ahenkro people are murderers and cannibals”. Well, we do not know what the Kabrono chief is afraid of. But the facts still remain the same that Silas Wulo Chame, a native of Banda-Ahenkro, was murdered at the said chief’s hometown, Kabrono during the voter registration exercise.

Therefore, if he is afraid that the wheel of justice, though, will grind slowly but it will finally catch up with the perpetrators of this heinous crime, then, he should prepare well for the day. For, we shall, as law-abiding citizens, continue to call on the government and the security agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute the killers of Silas until justice is served to his soul and family.

We would never allow anybody to hide under the usual gowns of chieftaincy dispute and partisan politics to kill Silas and go scot-free without any headache. So, if the Kabrono chief thinks that by holding a press conference to support or defend Kwame Baffoe “Abronye”, the Bono Regional Chairman of the ruling party, then, it means that will be the end of Silas’ murder at Kabrono, then, he is day-dreaming.

We, the youth and the People of Banda-Ahenkro shall continue to call for the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Silas’ murderers. For, murder is murder, no matter who is involved and how long it will take to arrest the killers.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we, the people of Banda-Ahenkro are very focused on our demands:

1. We call on Kwame Baffoe “Abronye” to come and substantiate with proven evidence his claim of Banda-Ahenkro people being “murderers and cannibals” or retract and apologise unreservedly.

2. We call on the government, the Inspector General of Police, the Security Agencies, the National Peace Council, Civil Society Organisations, the Diplomatic Community, the Religious Organisations, the National House of Chiefs, the Leadership of all Political Parties and the Media to add their voices to our call for the investigation, arrest and prosecution of the killers of Silas at Kabrono during the voter registration exercise.

It is important to note that we gave “Abronye” a two-week ultimatum to substantiate his claims or retract and apologise and go in peace. However, if Abronye will not do the needful but will rather heed to the advice of the Kabrono chief who just jumped from nowhere into the fray and is fanning the flame, then, that is Abronye’s cup of tea.

We once again call on all right-thinking Ghanaians, people of conscience, goodwill, solidarity, peace, and love to disregard the bitter tone claiming to support Abronye’s insult of Banda-Ahenkro people.

In this day and age, apart from a mortgaged mind, how can a mind of its own, support Abronye’s sacrilegious statement about Banda-Ahenkro people? We repeat our earlier call that Banda-Ahenkro people are lovely and hospitable. We cherish and respect the freedoms and dignity of everybody living with us.

So, everybody come to Banda Ahenkro and live with us peacefully and permanently. Forget about our detractors and enemies of progress whose only agenda are divisiveness, empty hatred, blatant lies, fanning chieftaincy disputes and political tension for their parochial interests, and political patronage. But we shall overcome all of them!

We thank you for coming!

May God Bless BANDAMAN!

Signed: Kennedy Sah – Spokesperson for Banda-Ahenkro Youth