Tragedy in Nalerigu

On the 12th of November, Alando, a very well respected man in the community and the one in charge of the business end of the pharmacy was murdered near his home in Nalerigu. It seems he was shot by a AK47 type rifle which are usually not found here in Nalerigu. He was brought to the hospital where Matt our visiting surgery resident and a visiting Cardiovascular surgeon tried valiantly to resuscitate him, but were unable to do so.

Alando had recently been to Accra to buy medicine and supplies for the pharmacy. The prime suspect in the murder, spread rumors that Alando was buying guns to supply fighters in Bawku. There has been fighting in Bawku, about a 2hr drive from here, but the fighting has never spread from that area. The fighting has been between the Mamprusi, main tribe in this area, and Kusasi, main tribe in Bawku area. Alando had been born in Nalerigu and lived here his entire life. His parents were of the Kusasi tribe but he had remained completely out of the conflict. It seems the prime suspect, the one who spread the rumors, was able to hire someone to kill Alando. We mourn for his family.

Some of the hospital workers are concerned that the violence could spread but we pray that is not the case. We feel safe and want to reassure everyone that things are under control. The Ghana police and military have had a large presence here since the incident and have things under control. The prime suspect has been caught and we pray that any others involved will be caught as well.

I had not written about it up until this point because I did not want to scare people when we here did not have that many details about the murder. We are all fine down here, The hospital was closed for several days but just opened back up on Thursday. All of the Ghanaian workers were very scared about going to work after his death, and they are also mourning for him.

Please pray for peace and comfort for everyone involved and security as many of the Ghanaians are very scared right now nothing like this has ever happened in Nalerigu and it has scared a lot of people.


Here are links to blogs of some people who are also in Nalerigu and have written about it.

http://snow4amyinafrica.blogspot.com/
http://2ghana.blogspot.com/