AN angry mob of fishermen and youth of Tema Manhean went on rampage yesterday firing locally manufactured pistols and hurling stones.
In the ensuing melee a number of vehicles were smashed and burnt.
The rioters vandalised and set ablaze two pick-ups and a Toyota 4-runner belonging to the Tema Traditional Council, a Komatsu Bulldozer and a Toyota Tacoma.
Also vandalised and set ablaze was the Toa office yard from where the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) operated, but fire fighters from the Ghana National Fire Service arrived promptly to bring the fire under control.
The mob resisted all attempts by the police to control the situation and rather engaged them in a shoot-out that made the police call for reinforcement and support from the 1st Battalion of Infantry, Michel Camp, and the Ghana Navy.
Other offices visited by the mob were the Tema East Sub-Metro and the Meridian FM.
The mob, on seeing the security reinforcement, ran and sought refuge at the beach at Abonkor, an area in Tema Manhean.
Fifteen suspects were arrested during the operation and sent to the Tema Regional Police Command.
A wrapped substance suspected to be moringa powder, laced with cocaine and 'wee', was found on one of them.
Giving a background to what the police termed 'indiscipline', the Tema Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Augustine Gyenning, said the Tema Metropolitan Assembly pulled down some structures in an area at the fishing harbour.
He said when the workers returned there yesterday morning to burn the debris and clear the land the mob attacked them.
ACP Gyenning said the police were called to ensure that there was peace, but were met with attacks from the mob, who were mostly fishermen and some youth.
He said the mob attacked and shot at the police with locally manufactured pistols, noting that 'the police ensured that lives were not lost during the scuffle and gave the assurance that they would do their best to protect lives and property”.
ACP Gyenning said the police would continue to patrol the area to deter any mob attacks on innocent people.
Some of the residents told the Daily Graphic that the incident was as a result of the sale of a parcel of land to a foreign oil company to put up a factory.
They claimed that the land was the only area left for them to do their fishing business on.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on phone, the Chief Fisherman, Nii Adjeiter Mator, said the fishermen did not go to sea because of the mob action.
He said he was in support of the action taken by the youth, noting that the land was for the people of Tema Manhean, who had engaged in activities there for the past 51 years.
He said he did not see why it had to be taken away from them.
Nii Mator said 'the sale of the land had made the government unpopular among the fisherfolk'.
The Tema Mantse, Nii Adjei Krakue, had taken refuge at an unknown destination, and so was not present when the mob attacked the palace.
His palanquin and drums were seized by the mob and deposited in the middle of the road leading to the palace.
The chief’s son, Richard Adjei Adjetey Krakue, a student who was present when the mob attacked the palace, said they came with knives and pistols, calling for the blood of his father.
He said he and two others, Asafoanye Nabla and Joshua Addo, hid to avoid being harmed, while the mob smashed windows, doors, plastic chairs, vehicles and some decorative structures, including statues of two of the lions mounted at the frontage of the palace.
Richard said the mob explained that his father, Nii Adjei Krakue, had a hand in the sale of the land.
He said his father went on air on Meridian FM to announce his innocence to the citizens before taking refuge.
At the TMA Sub -Metro offices at Manhean, the mob destroyed computers and other office equipment.
The Daily Graphic could not meet any senior citizen of Tema Manhean to talk to because they had all taken refuge to avoid the wrath of the youth.
At a press conference held by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority later in the day, management explained that the land in question was the property of the authority as embodied in the Tema Township Acquisition Act 1952.
Addressing the media, the Director General of GPHA, Mr Nestor Galley, said the authority only leased out a portion of the land to the oil refining company WILMA Africa, to enable it to put up structures for its operations.
He says the Tema Traditional Council and the GPHA have set up a 17-member committee to consider some aspects of employment opportunities, among others, for the natives when the company starts work.
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