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• The church building in contention

Residents of Mataheko kick against unauthorised developments

Residents of Mataheko and Emefs Hillview Estates, near Afienya in the Ningo Prampram District, are planning to confront ace gospel musician, Cecilia Marfo, who they allege is engaging in activities that are disturbing the peace in the area and inconveniencing residents.

According to them, the gospel singer has put up a church in an area earmarked for a road, in contravention of the layout of the area, thus blocking residents from having easy access to their abodes.

The angry residents said she had also extended the wall around her plot onto an adjoining road and further erected a two-room structure and a kiosk on a part of the road, blocking it. The septic tank for her building is also situated on the road.

What was worse, they said, was the consistent high level of noise from her church activities, which pressured residents to endure "relentless loud strident disturbances", between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.; Monday through to Thursday and from 9 p.m. on Fridays to 6 am on Saturdays.

Chairman of the residents association

The Chairman of the residents’ association, Mr Mawuli Agboka, who took the Daily Graphic on a tour of the area, said residents would be forced to take action if the assembly did not act to save the situation.

He also said Ms Marfo had embarked on an expansion of the church and was this time drawing close to transmission poles of some utility companies.

"The frightening thing is that if it is not checked, we will have another Melcom disaster in the making. The building has no substructure and it is feared that with one heavy rainfall, the entire structure could collapse," he said.

Mr Agboka said the church building was blocking water which would have flowed easily during torrents. Under the prevailing condition, floodwater rather flowed into people's homes.

According to Mr Agboka, the actions of Ms Marfo has been reported to the police and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and both institutions have warned her to put a stop to her activities but she appeared unperturbed.

Building permit

He said on May 12, this year, the residents wrote a second petition to the NPDA and the two parties were invited to a meeting to resolve their differences.

During interactions with the officials of the assembly, he said, it came to light that Ms Marfo did not have a building permit, drawings for the structures she had erected and a title deed to the land.

He said following the June 3 tragedy in Accra, officials of the assembly were moved to act to avert similar occurrence. He said residents were therefore approached to assist to demolish the structures.

"We subsequently hired a pay loader but less than 12 hours to the exercise, a text message was received from the district engineer that he had been instructed by a higher authority not to demolish the structures.

“So is the district assembly going to wait for a disaster to happen before they do what they have to do?" he asked.

Ms Marfo

When she was contacted by the Daily Graphic, Ms Marfo declined to comment on the issue but in an off-the-cuff remark accused the residents of attempting to thwart her efforts to establish a church in the area.

Clearly not pleased with the situation, she threw herself on the ground and rolled in the mud while heaping curses on the residents.
She was later pulled away by some members of her church.

NPDA’s reaction

At the NPDA, the District Engineer, Mr John Tsikor, confirmed that Ms Marfo did not have a permit to put up the structures.

"When we superimposed her site plan onto the plan of the area, we realised that it did not conform to the layout of the area.
According to him, a demolition exercise would be carried out within the month in spite of any political pressure that is used as a hindrance.

"We are mobilising to demolish the structures. But we will do it in a way that will not raise any uproar," he said.

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