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Following a demolition exercise, Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Alfred Oko Vanderpuije has warned residents of Old Fadama to desist from putting up structures on the land.

The defiant residents have begun constructing make-shift structures after the AMA embarked on a massive demolition exercise in the community a fortnight ago.

Almost all the wooden structures in the area – known to be Ghana’s biggest slum were pulled down in the exercise.

However, as it appears some residents who say they have no alternative shelter, have decided to rebuild their homes.

But the AMA boss says this will not be tolerated. Speaking to some residents in the area, the Mayor said “I have received information that some of you have started building concrete in the area that we have demolished.

“If you do that and I come in...I have said my machines are tall and wide so I don’t want my machine to come to that area so if anyone has started rebuilding please take it down before I come”, he warned.

He told Joy News all buildings will be razed to the ground on Sunday in the final phase of the demolition exercise.

The Old Fadama area was home to several businesses, especially scrap and metal dealerships.

Joy News’ Latif Iddrisu visited the area and reports that young men who have defied orders to move out, still fear their businesses will collapse if the exercise comes off on Sunday.

They appealed to government to provide them with an alternative settlement before the demolition takes place so they can move their businesses.

Attempts to resettle several hundred’s displaced has hit a snag. A move to relocate them to Amasaman appears to have stalled because the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research say government should stay off their land.

The CSIR maintains the land is for scientific purposes only and finds the potential presence of the displaced inconvenient for their research