AMA pulls down unauthorised structures
Unauthorised structures numbering about 300 along the railway line on the Graphic Road were reduced to rubble.
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At about 9 a.m, bulldozers began demolishing metal structures and wooden kiosks along the railway junction from the Graphic area to Kantamanto.
The exercise, which lasted for about five hours, was supervised by officials and the taskforce of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), while police and military personnel provided security.
Only a church building and a place of convenience which were a few metres away from the railway lines were not demolished.
Squatters were seen running helter skelter to salvage their properties to safe and secured places. Some of them conveyed their properties to sections of the Graphic Road and the overpass.
According to the city authorities, the structures were demolished because they were close to the railway line and thus posed a danger to the public.
Even though there was no resistance from the aggrieved squatters, they said the city authorities pulled down their structures without prior notice.
However, the AMA denied their claim and said they were informed four months prior to the exercise.
‘Remove’ notices
Some of the structures spotted by the Daily Graphic had “Remove by 15-7-2015” inscribed on them.
Information gathered by the Daily Graphic pointed to the fact that the exercise was part of the city authorities’ ongoing demolition exercise in parts of the capital to rid the city of filth and illegal structures.
A victim of the demolition exercise, Mr Henry Duah Yeboah, who spoke to this reporter expressed disappointment at the exercise saying that they had nowhere to go.
“So long as the government has refused to provide affordable houses for us, as this is the case in many countries, we’ll continue to remain here,” Mr Yeboah said in an angry tone.
Some residents who had also packed their belongings along the Graphic Road for fear of being evicted, said they were waiting to take back their luggage to the area in the event that their structures were left untouched.
“My mother and I have nowhere to go, so we’re waiting for them to finish the exercise so that we can go back to the area,” Ms Cecilia Kafari said.
“I’m helping my brother to pack his belongings so that we can take them to Bereku since that is where we come from,” another said.
We’re ready to assist
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Chief Executive Officer of the Peace Watch Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Ms Diana Nyankopah Daniels, said the organisation was ready to assist the displaced victims.
According to her, the agency had bought large tracts of land at Kweikrom, near Kasoa in the Central Region, and was prepared to sell some of them at lower rates to them.
“We have been meeting the leadership of the residents to explain the issues to them and the need to evacuate from this area and get a better place, but they never gave it a thought,” she said.