Squatters Curse AMA Taskforce

Some residents at James Town and Korle Gonno- both suburbs of Accra, who were affected by the demolition exercise embarked upon by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) yesterday protested vehemently against the decision of the city authorities. According to them, the city authorities did not give them any prior notification before demolishing the structures which served as their sources of livelihood. The AMA Taskforce, led by one Joseph Nii Okai, went along the beaches to pull down the unauthorized structures. In the process, some of the residents invoked curses on the city authorities and threatened to use spiritual means to teach those who embarked upon the exercise some lessons. The exercise itself began from James Town (British Accra) beach, through Korle Gonno (the Power-house area) and ended at Chorkor. The exercise was supervised by officers and men of the Ghana Police Service to avoid any physical confrontation between the taskforce and the squatters. Some residents complained that their properties and poultry farms were destroyed, killing some of the poultry birds in the process. Nii Ajietey Mensah, a poultry farmer, lamented about how the place he reared his animals was affected by the exercise. �Four of my animals are dead, and two got missing when the Bull-dozer started demolishing the structures,� he said. According to him, the AMA did not serve them any prior notice before starting the exercise. �We only heard it as rumours that the AMA would be coming on a demolition exercise�, he added. The Korle Bank Pig Farmers Association at Lavender hill, also expressed disappointment in the AMA, charging them of destroyed their source of income. According to the President of the association, Abossey Djanie, the AMA only asked them to remove some of the structures, which they had earlier come to mark with red paint. He also expressed disappointment in Mr. Fritz Baffour, the MP for Ablekuma South, who did not come to their aid. Abossey Djanie said they sought the attention of the MP by writing a petition to him, immediately the AMA served them the notice, pleading that they should be given grace period, but the MP did not support them. �He told us he was traveling and that when he returns he will meet the Association, but we did not hear from him again,� an angry Mr. Djanie said. Mr. Joseph Nii Okai, head of the Taskforce has, however, explained that the affected people were adequately informed about the demolition exercise and they were asked to vacate the premises two weeks ago. �We even came here last Saturday to alert them of the exercise,� he said. He noted that the exercise went on successfully with no confrontation from the affected residents.