Some residents of Kasoa in the Central Region have expressed concerns over the manner with which the community is associated with all forms of crimes, even when they occur in neighbouring or distant vicinities.
They say they want the media particularly, and the security agencies to trace crimes to their direct places of occurrence rather than lumping every crime within the enclave to Kasoa.
In a statement issued by two concerned residents; Aya Balley, a former assemblyman for Adam Nana Electoral area, and Akwasi Addo, a resident and media practitioner, they say the bad name is affecting their businesses.
Recent in such name tags is the shooting and killing of a military officer at Millennium City which is in the Gomoa East District. However, all media reportage, including statement from the police and the Ghana Armed Forces, cited Kasoa as the location of the crime.
They want the “deliberate” lumping of all criminal cases in the area being attributed to Kasoa to stop in order to redeem their goodwill.
“We are extremely unhappy with the seeming deliberate effort to attribute any wrongdoing to Kasoa by recognized media outfits and state institutions,” a Wednesday, May 1, 2024 statement they issued contained.
“[More] often than not the name Kasoa has been mentioned in publications regarding criminal and other bad happenings even when those cases did not happen within the Kasoa municipality.
“We have become more alarmed as the police in a statement issued on the shooting of a military personnel expressly mentioned the location to be Kasoa even though the incident happened right at the District Police Command in Millennium City which categorically falls under Gomoa East District.
“We are disturbed that a state security agency like the police could not define the jurisdiction accurately. It must be noted that the Millennium City where the shooting took place is natively known as Gomoa Bantama and falls directly under Gomoa Fetteh in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region while Kasoa falls within the Awutu Senya East Municipality.
“In a similar incident an alleged missing manhood case which happened at Nyanyano Kakraba also in the Gomoa East was widely reported as happening in Kasoa.
“As residents, we do not find it tasteful the bad name tag being associated with Kasoa as it is blocking our business potentials.
“We are therefore entreating all Ghanaians particularly media organizations and state agencies to do due diligence and avoid mentioning Kasoa other than the specific locations where crimes are perpetrated.
“However, we commend the police for acting swiftly to arrest the perpetrator of this dastardly murder and urge the outfit to investigate further to arrest other accomplices if any, and to also work more efficiently to curb these violent land disputes which have become a menace,” the statement detailed.
Kasoa
Kasoa is the capital of the highly densely populated Awutu Senya East Municipality noted for its vibrant foodstuff market, and lies just on the outskirt of Accra West.
There have been longstanding disputes over the geographical location of the town, as to whether it is part of the Greater Accra region or the Central region. Although known to be part of the Central region for some years, a recent court ruling declared the town as part of the Greater Accra region, a ruling which did not really sink with most Ghanaians, therefore not changing the narrative that the town belongs to the Central region.
Kasoa: Appeals Court rules township is now part of Greater Accra, no more in Central region
Like many big communities around the country, it experiences an unfair share of many of the crimes that plaque our daily lives– land disputes, ritual murders, armed robberies and petty crimes.
Apart from political rallies and campaigns for the thousands of votes likely to inure to either of Ghana’s two largest political parties, the mention of Kasoa in the media is likely to be for the commission of any of the crimes. Or at least something negative.
The shooting incident at Millennium City, the latest incident wrongly sourced to Kasoa that has got its residents protesting.
