A middle aged woman, Abla Sego, who sustained gun shot wounds to her two knees after she was allegedly hit by a stray bullet during a demonstration staged by aggrieved youth in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta region on September 27, 2022, is currently in a critical condition at an undisclosed health facility, family sources have disclosed to Ghananewsonline.com.gh.
The victim was part of the protesters who hit the streets as a way of registering their displeasure in what they described as the ‘murderous’ nature of the activities of Seven Seas Salt Company – a salt mining firm which has been operating in the Keta lagoon for some years now.
According to a source close to the organisers of the protest, they are unable to understand why someone would join the protest with a gun as the demonstration was meant to be a peaceful one and not degenerate into chaos and rioting as characterised the protest.
“We were in the middle of the protest and all of a sudden we heard some frightening sound that scared all of us. And before we could fish out who or what was behind the sound, we saw our sister on the ground in a pool of blood, blood was oozing out from around her knees,” the source said.
It further stated that the incident disrupted the peaceful protest for a while with people running in all directions. It continued that they however managed to restore order while some volunteers rushed the wounded sister to a nearby hospital for treatment.
A formal complaint was then lodged with the Ketu South divisional police command who are still conducting investigations into the incident.
As of the time of filing this story, the identity of whoever shot the said gun into the crowd resulting in the incident has still not been established. Many people are wondering whether the organisers of the protest did any due diligence or gathered some intel before embarking on the protest with others calling on the police to get to the bottom of the matter and bring the perpetrator(s) to book.
It would be recalled that news of the death of a mother and her 3 children broke on September 7, 2022 after they were said to have drowned in the Keta lagoon at Laklivikope near Denu whiles fishing around some dykes dug by Seven Seas Salt Company Ltd, sparking widespread backlash and condemnation from the youth of the municipality who accused the company of destroying the lives and livelihoods of the people of the area.
The youth alleged that the company lacked the necessary documents from relevant authorities to support its operations and called on government to suspend the operations of the company.
Addressing the concerns raised by the youth on some local radio stations, Public Relations manager of the company, Adams Mensah, denied the allegations describing them as unfounded. He said the unfortunate happening was pure accident which should not be blamed on the company.
He said the company possessed all relevant documents issued by the relevant authorities which he later showed to some media persons who visited his office to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations. Adams Mensah called for calm and assured the community of the company’s readiness to ensure that these unfortunate happening does not recur in the future.
He adviced members of the community who go fishing around the dykes on its concessions to do so with tact and caution to forestall these incidents going forward.
By Nelson Ayivor || ghananewsonline.com.gh