Friday, June 18, 2010

DORMAA SOCCER FANS ATTACK VRA OFFICE (PAGE 11, JUNE 18, 2010)

A group of irate youth from Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region last Sunday attacked the Dormaa Office of the Volta River Authority (VRA), and in the process destroyed the windscreen of a pick –up vehicle belonging to the Authority.
Their reason for the attack was that their lights went off 20minutes into the Ghana- Serbia match at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which Ghana won by a lone goal through an 85th minutes spot-kick beautifully converted by Asamoah Gyan, Ghana’s leading marksman.
Mr. John k. Arthur, the Dormaa Municipal Police Commander who confirmed the incident to the Graphic Sports at Dormaa-Ahenkro said someone rang his office a few minutes after the light went off during the match and reported that a group of young men, believed to have been infuriated by the intermittent outage which punctuated the World Cup matches for the second day running was heading towards the VRA offices ostensibly to vent their anger on the staff.
He said when his men got to the scene, the mob had already damaged the car and left the VRA premises and attempts to arrest any suspects in connection with the crime proved futile.        
The Police Commander stated further that his men learnt upon their arrival at the scene that the VRA security man on duty that day could not withstand the threat and advancement of the mob and  therefore ran away to protect his life.
He said his men also gathered that the mob again regrouped and with shouts of “Yen ani abre koo”, “Yen ani abre koo” rushed to the residence of the Municipal VRA Officer but didn’t meet him.
He stated that his office was taking measures to beef up security at the VRA Office to offset any similar disturbances during the duration of the World Cup tournament.
Meanwhile, the Chairman for Dormaa Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) ,Mr. Vincent Oppong Asamoah, who is also the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has led a team from the Council to express worry over the incident on local FM stations at Dormaa-Ahenkro during which he also called on the youth to exercise restraint and seek redress to grievances appropriately.
He gave the assurance that his office would liaise with the VRA to ensure that frequent un-   announced power cuts in the municipality would be a thing of the past.
The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeyo Agyemang Badu II, has also deplored the mob action and urged the youth to remain calm and do nothing to jeopardize the peace.
He advised staff of VRA to make public their challenges so that their clients would understand them better.                                                  

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