The Youth in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region has encouraged security agencies and other interested parties to take proactive steps to apprehend those responsible for the killing and kidnapping of residents.
The youth expressed this at a protest called to voice their outrage over the increasing number of murder and missing person cases.
Two watchmen went missing, bringing the total number of similar occurrences to 9 in the previous four months, forcing the irate protesters to take to the streets.
They wore red headbands and held signs that said, in part, “Wa is no longer safe, they are killing our people,” “Stop killing our people,” and “Let’s stand up and fight.”
To show their anger with the disturbing trend, residents of the municipality set fire on car tires as they marched to the palace of the overlord of the Waala Traditional Area.
The angry youth voiced their worries to the Wa Naa and expressed their willingness to collaborate with the security forces to bring the offenders to book.
One of the organizers of the demonstration, Iddrisu Sufyan, claimed that the murdering and disappearance of watchmen in the municipality had reached an alarming level and required immediate attention.
He claimed that in order to get the various stakeholders to step up efforts to contain the crisis, the youth needed to start the demonstration.
The Wa Naa was encouraged by Musah Maalubata, one of the conveners, to give them two weeks to apprehend the offenders.
The Wa Naa’s spokesperson, Jinpenhi Naa Kadiri Ibrahim, stated that all sub-chiefs and their landlords have been invited to a meeting to discuss steps that will lead to a resolution of the issue.
As a first move to address the deaths and kidnappings of locals, he also requested the interior minister to implement a curfew in Wa and its surroundings.
Numerous persons were afraid they would be the next victim after nine people were killed or went missing in the previous four months.
Majority of the murders included watchmen, who were either killed and had their body parts removed and buried in shallow graves, or were transported to unidentified areas.
On Thursday, September 14, 2022, the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) released nine security measures designed to address the rising crime rate in the Wa Municipality.
Residents began to question the efficiency of REGSEC’s response when, just one day after these steps were announced, a night watchman was reported missing from his place of employment.
