One die, two injured at Odwira Festival

Jubilation and merry-making usually associated with the celebration of the Odwira Festival of the chiefs and people of Akuapem turned sour last Friday, when one out of three persons who sustained gunshot wounds died.
The sad incident happened during the firing of musketry.

Opanin Samuel Adade, 76, who was initially sent to the Tetteh Quarshie Government Hospital and later transferred to the Ridge Hospital in Accra died while the others whose conditions were said to be very critical, are currently responding to treatment.

The two others, whose names have not been made public, included a nephew of the Akrahene of Akuapem. The person who pulled the trigger has not yet been identified.

The sad incident was virtually unnoticed and the durbar went on successfully because it was said to have occurred outside the peak period of the durbar (between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.) when all the dignitaries were present.

This year’s durbar which was as usual held at the forecourt of the Omanhene’s palace, was bigger than it used to be because it was the first time in 20 years that almost all the divisional chiefs of Akuapem had come together to mark the event. This was because some of the divisional chiefs who had in the past gone their separate ways had been brought together through a peace initiative by Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, a former Eastern Regional Minister and the current minister, Mrs Hellen Adwoa Ntoso.

When contacted, a source at the Omanhene’s palace at Akropong who did not want to be named, confirmed the death of Opanin Adade.

Pressed for more information, he said nothing more would be divulged to the press and that the chiefs would assist the police to unravel the circumstances that led to the incident.

At the Regional Police Headquarters at Koforidua, the Regional Commander DCOP Akuribah Yaagy also confirmed the death of Opanin Adade but could not mention the names of the two others who sustained the gunshot wounds.

By A. Kofoya-Tetteh/Daily Graphic/Ghana