Clash Over Alajo Toilet

The toilet wars which raged in the country in the early days of the Mills Administration resurrected yesterday as National Democratic Congress (NDC) sympathizers locked up some persons attending nature�s call in the facility. DAILY GUIDE gathered from eyewitnesses at the scene that armed policemen, led by the Chairman of the Ayawaso Central sub-metro, Victor Adonoo, the assemblyman for the area and some known NDC elements in Alajo, had turned up at the facility to lock it up. It took the intervention of some persons outside to get the trapped persons out of the facility.The Alajo toilet has a long-standing history of chaos, having been a subject of litigation in years gone by. When DAILY GUIDE contacted the MP for the constituency, Sheikh I.C. Quaye, he recalled that some residents in the suburb disagreed with the construction of a toilet close to the new Alajo Market, claiming the facility would pose a health hazard. He stated that on 3rd March 1988, the Alajo Development Association, made up of residents of the area, acquired the land on which stands the local market and put up a water closet system toilet. The MP stated that those against the development did all they could to frustrate the Alajo Development Association at a time the NDC was in power. The current Sub-Metro Chairman and others went to court which ruled that the location of such facilities close to a market is standard practice and therefore should stay, he said. �We named the toilet �ante onna� meaning �have you seen�. �With the NDC now in power, the same people think they can reverse the trend by having the facility locked up and therefore denying residents the opportunity of a place of convenience�. The toilet, he said, is the property of the people of Alajo through the development association. Turning to yesterday�s clash, he said the NDC elements came to the place with policemen from Tesano and some thugs, led by the chairman of the sub-metro and the assemblyman, to lock up the toilet even as some people were within it. Having failed to have the place permanently locked up, they turned to the Kotobabi Police Station which, according to him, was a failed mission. Continuing, he said they turned to the Nima Police Station whose personnel stormed the Alajo toilet with armed men.The cops, he said, were met with resistance, rendering this latest attempt also a futility. According to him, the NDC elements had deceived the police with false information. According to the Chairman of the Ayawaso Central Sub-Metro Assembly of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Victor Quarshie Adonoo, the clashes were as a result of AMA�s temporary measures to take over the public toilets in the capital city in order to streamline the contracts of the operators. He explained that though members of the area participated in the agreement for the implementation of the policy, some members began resisting the policy, saying that they were no longer in favour of it. According to Victor Quarshie, he was at the Alajo Market public toilet when he and his group were attacked by armed men in the company of the Member of Parliament, Shiekh I.C Quaye. He told DAILY GUIDE that there was a heated argument, with the MP and his people insulting the government so he called on the police to intervene. The strength of the police could not match the armed men, thus he had to call for reinforcement. He continued that the toilet, which is situated close to the MP�s house, is being claimed by him. He described the men on I.C. Quaye�s side as macho men armed with guns and cutlasses and knives, adding that they went to his shop to vandalize the property but could not tell the extent of the damage. Also recounting the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the Assemblyman of the area, Mohammed Abdul Aziz, said he was at the scene when the armed men attacked him. He said Hon. I.C Quaye assaulted one of the police officers but when he was ordered to come along with the police to the station, he refused. The Assemblyman said he feared for his life as some armed men had laid ambush for him.