Fear gripped inhabitants of Abuakwa Manhyia in the Atwima Nwabiagya South District of Ashanti when a strange man was seen carrying a white coffin, deep in the night, to the town, ostensibly for some ritual purposes.

The strange man who declined to mention his name when he was arrested, had gone to deposit the coffin in the middle of the ‘T’-Junction of the town.

It contained nine brand new padlocks with their keys, a black coat, a pair of blue trousers, a white shirt, and a red tie.

The inhabitants were divided over the issue with some claiming that it was a ritual relating to the upcoming general elections as political parties jostled for political power, while others linked it to “juju money”or sakawa.

The inhabitants have appealed to the Sumankwahene (Head Priest of the Manhyia Palace) to do something about the incident to save their lives.

According to an eye witness, Kojo Setor Amenu,”this is not the first time something like this has happened here, and young boys and girls die mysteriously afterwards”.

“We used to wake up to see coffins sitting in the middle of our roads and within two or three days, young boys and girls will die for no reasons so this has led some of us to keep watch over our town when it is dawn, in order to stop these things,” Amenu said.

He said at about 1:00am on Tuesday, he saw a young man carrying a white coffin on top of an unregistered Toyota Corolla to the ‘T’ Junction of the town.

Mr Amenu, said that the man, who was not known to them in the town and its environs, tried putting the coffin down and as a result, we approached him.

He said, the man tried to give excuses that the coffin belonged to a traditional priestess who had been in the town for a year.

“But his claims were proven to be false when the priestess was called to the scene at that hour, and she said she had no knowledge of the coffin,” Amenu indicated.

He said this infuriated the youth at the scene to throw punches at the man for trying to use the inhabitants for his dubious agenda,”but elderly people in the town intervened and he was spared but he could have been lynched”.

Another eye witnes, E.K. Asare did not understand why the elders decided to take the man to the Abuakwa-Manhyia police station, without proper security measures resulting in his escape.

From Kingsley E.Hope,Kumasi