Two persons have sustained gunshot wounds, with three others suffering minor injuries after police moved in to arrest persons who constructed an illegal speed ramp at Apam Junction in the Central Region.
Five other persons were arrested in the operation undertaken by the Apam District Police Command.
The speed ramp was constructed by some commercial drivers who said they wanted to check excessive speeding on the stretch.
The Apam District Police Command had ordered the commercial drivers who mounted the speed ramp to remove it, but they failed to do so, resulting in the altercation between them and the Police on Saturday night.
Commercial drivers at the G.P.R.T.U branch at Ankamu, a suburb of Apam, had complained of speeding vehicles knocking persons down on the Apam stretch on the main Cape Coast highway with the latest victim being a taxi driver.
The commercial drivers, earlier on Saturday, decided to heap more sand on the makeshift ramp, resulting in the altercation between them and the police.
One of the drivers, Ebo Sampson who narrated the incident to Citi News said, “I received several slaps from the police. They heckled me and kicked me for doing nothing.”
Earlier intervention
The Member of Parliament for Gomoa West constituency, Richard Gyan Mensah, earlier on Friday, met drivers of the GPRTU branch in Ankamu at Apam Junction to dialogue with them on ways to construct proper speed ramps instead of the makeshift one.
There have also been meetings between the MP; the community; the Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan; the Regional Police Commander DCOP, Mrs. Habiba Twumasi Sarpong and the Ghana Highway Authority on finding a lasting solution to the incessant knocking down of persons by speeding vehicles.
The commercial drivers had also complained of the bad nature of the Apam-Dawurampong road, which the MP said work had begun on.
The Ghana Highway Authority had said that it would construct a permanent speed ramp in two weeks before the unfortunate incident occurred on Saturday, April 24, 2021.
The Chief of Gomoa Ankamu, Nana Ankamu Otabil VIII has since met the Police, the MP and all others involved in finding a lasting solution to the problem.
Meanwhile, Citi News’ visit to the area found that the illegal ramps have been destroyed.
