One person was reportedly shot in renewed chieftaincy clashes at Kato, a village near Brekum in the Brong Ahafo Region, Monday morning.

The shooting was heard when two mounted roadblocks to prevent people from Sunyani and Berekum entering the town during a supposed installation of a chief. 

One faction blocked a road to protest the installation of a new chief while the other faction blocked another road leading to the town in retaliation.

They pelted stones at each other but this degenerated into the exchange of gunfire with one person hit.

Blood was oozing out of his nose and mouth as he collapsed on the main road. The police carried him off in one of their pick-up cars.

'The gunshots you hear are warning shots being fired by the police to disperse the crowd but they are still throwing the stones', an eyewitness, Kwame recounted to myjoyonline.com.

Background

Kato traditional area has not had a chief for over seventeen years after the death of Nana Kwadwo Kyere.  One faction, the Nneantene royal family installed Nana Febiri Amoawi II in 2013, triggering a dispute

But the queen mother Hemaa, Nana Afia Siraa Ababio III disapproved of the installation, dissociated herself from the move. By tradition, queen mothers are supposed to endorse an installation to make it legitimate.

Nneantene royal family has scuttled several attempts by the Queen mother to install one Kwabena Owusu Ansah as chief.

The family and their supporters say Nana Afia Siraa Ababio is not the legitimate queen mother of the Kato traditional area.

Monday clash

On Monday, some supporters of the Nneantene family suspected the Queen mother had plans to parade Kwabena Owusu Ansah as part of the installation processes.

They blocked the road leading to the town in protest but supporters of the queen mother and her candidate blocked the other side of the road in retaliation.

The disagreement became heated after the two sides resorted to stone-throwing.  Multiple gunshots were heard in the ensuing exchanges.

Police from Sunyani and Brekum stormed the town, fired warning shots to disperse the feuding groups.

It is still unclear whose gunshot hit the injured, who has been identified as 'Chief'.

There is heavy police presence in the town to restore calm.