AMA taskforce demolishes unauthotrised structures, Tuesday, October 26, 2010, pg 18

A TASK force of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) last Saturday reduced a chain of unauthorised mobile phone shops at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle into a pile of debris.

Some of the traders arrived for business on Monday morning to find their structures and wares demolished.

When the Daily Graphic arrived at the scene, what was known to be a vibrant mobile phone shopping corner had been thrown into a state of disarray, with the traders cursing members of the task force.
Containers and wooden structures had been crushed, with destroyed mobile phones and accessories scattered all over.

The traders were seen retrieving the remnants of their goods from the rubble. Chairs, tables, plates and plastic ware belonging to food vendors were also scattered all over the place.

Narrating the events leading to the demolition to the Daily Graphic, a mobile phone dealer, Mr Joseph Manu, said a team of policemen and the AMA task force arrived at the place at 5 a.m. and ordered him and others out of their shops for the demolition to take place.

Another victims of the demolition, Fuseini Munkaila, told the Daily Graphic that even though they had been informed some weeks earlier about the demolition, they were not given adequate time to retrieve their items.

“We were asked to collect our things from the shops. Five minutes later, a bulldozer appeared and started destroying everything,” he said, adding that their pleas to the task force to allow them to remove all their goods fell on deaf ears.

“Several of my goods have been crushed along with the container. Even though the AMA has the right to sack us from here, it has no right to demolish our goods. It should have at least given us some time to pack out. This is not fair,” he lamented.

When contacted to speak to the matter, Mr James Dorgbetor, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the AMA, denied claims that the traders had not been given adequate time to remove their wares.

According to him, the AMA gave the traders more than four months’ notice to move but they were adamant, adding, “We have made several follow-up appeals to them to remove their structures but they fell on deaf ears.”

He warned that the AMA would not condone acts of indiscipline any longer, saying, “Gone are the days when we put up notices that people should remove their structures but didn’t act on them.”

“We are setting the standard high and will not compromise on anything. People must begin to respect the laws of the city,” he added.