Africa-Press – Ghana. Residents of Jabang have alleged serious misconduct by officers of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) during Thursday’s violent clash over a land dispute between youths from Sukuta and Jabang.
Eyewitnesses and victims claimed that PIU officers entered residential compounds, fired tear gas, physically assaulted residents—including women and children—damaged property, and stole cash and mobile phones. Several residents said they refrained from retaliating out of respect for the officers’ uniforms.
Fatoumatta Kujabi, a resident, recounted that her one-month-old baby narrowly escaped harm.
“If it wasn’t because of my little brother yesterday, my one-month-old could have died. They threw tear gas into our compound and there were only women and children home by then,” she said.
Ms. Kujabi condemned the PIU officers’ actions as unprofessional, questioning why they stormed into village compounds when the riot occurred on the highway.
Another resident, Amidou Bokum, alleged that officers confiscated his mobile phone and D3,150, which he had earned that day. “I reported this to the police station, the officer told me they would do an investigation,” Bokum said, adding that the officers also ransacked his room and allegedly assaulted his family.
He further stressed that residents chose not to retaliate out of respect for the police uniform. “They know very well if they were not in uniform and man to man they would not dare do this without us reacting or fighting back. We respect the uniform which is why we did not fight back but the government needs to take a step about this,” he added.
Other residents reported similar experiences. Olive Johnson claimed that D45,000 in cash and a new mobile phone were taken from her home. “They took D30,000 and D15,000 and a new mobile phone from my room.”
Journalist Kaddijatou Bokum of GRTS described the incident as “traumatic and humiliating.” She said officers threw tear gas into her room, dragged her and her family out, beat them, insulted them, and later placed them in a pickup truck. “Tear gas was thrown into our rooms, dragged us out, beat us, insulted us, and put us in a pickup.”
Ms. Bokum accused the officers of removing their badges to make identification impossible. She also described a harrowing moment: “I was inside the room with my two-year-old son, an officer stood at the window and pointed a gun at me and my son,” she alleged.
The Alkalo of Jabang, Gibril Colley, explained that the land dispute between Jabang and Sukuta is long-standing and has been reported to the government on several occasions. He said Thursday’s confrontation began after unidentified individuals started digging a foundation on Jabang’s reserved land, claiming it had been allocated to them by a man from Sukuta.
Colley said the youth resisted, arguing that the disputed land is the community’s only remaining reserve, preserved for future development projects.
“The youth refused to inform them that this is their only reserved land and they are keeping it for any future development. There is no land in Jabang but this land is kept for development to benefit the whole community,” he said.
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