More than 400 spare parts and mechanic shops, mainly metalic containers and wooden structures in Kumasi were demolished at the Suame-Makro Junction, behind the GOIL and Modex filling stations, last Wednesday.
Bulldozers razed down the shops in the early hours of the day, under the alleged supervision of the police. About 70 vehicles were destroyed during the exercise.
On January 6, about 100 shops around the same area were demolished by the team. Heaps of sand have since been deposited at the place.
The Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr Kojo Bonsu, denied any knowledge of the demolition exercise.
Sad scene
When the Daily Graphic got to the scene around 5a.m. yesterday, many of the affected shop owners had gathered around. They swore to fight anybody connected with the exercise, including the police who stepped foot at the place.
The sad-looking shop owners, mostly spare parts dealers and auto mechanics, some of who were crying, told the Daily Graphic that around 2a.m. last Wednesday, they received calls that their shops were being demolished by bulldozers.
Richard Bonsu, a spare parts dealer, who could not hold back his tears, said when he got to the scene around 4 a.m., his 40 by 20 feet container and its contents of spare parts, valued at over GH¢38,000, had been mangled by the bulldozers.
He claimed that the spectacle made him pass out and he was later revived at a nearby clinic. He further claimed that the stocks in the container were purchased with a loan from a bank, adding that “my brother, I don’t know what to do, I may commit suicide”.
Kwaku Dwomoh, another spare parts dealer and a mechanic, said he had in his custody five vehicles whose dash boards he was changing and they had all been destroyed by the bulldozers. “That aside, car boots, bonnets, doors and other spare parts had all been destroyed,” he added.
At the time of going to press, the Daily Graphic had not been able to ascertain who authorised the team to demolish the shops.
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