AMA pulls down houses along Tema-Motorway in demolition exercise

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has once again destroyed some properties belonging to squatters along the Accra-Tema motorway, Thursday, December 19, 2019.

Several illegal structures, some of which served as homes and workspaces for squatters were brought down to nothing by the taskforce team who carried out the demolition in the early hours of Thursday.

According to some victims who spoke in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, they acquired the land space legally from a chief who resides at Adjiriganor in East Legon and is popularly known as ‘AsafoakyE.’

A victim said, “I was called to come and check up on my properties. Upon arrival, I realized they had destroyed my container and everything around here. I sell foodstuff so I’ve lost a lot of things. What baffles me is that I secured this place legally from the 'AsafoakyE'. I paid for 2 years and they took GH¢300, and he told me this is a government space…”

While some structures were completely destroyed in the exercise and owners looked on helplessly, some other affected persons were seen trying to salvage some of their belongings.

Condemning the act, a victim complained that the Assembly came there unannounced to deprive them of their livelihoods. She also described the exercise as inhumane considering the fact that they paid for their stay.

“We were here this morning when they came to demolish. We were not even forewarned yet they’ve destroyed a lot of things and we were able to salvage some. We have nowhere to go right now, if they had given us prior notice, we would have planned towards it. Look at us now. The chief who gave us the land is around trying to sort things out with them.”

The exercise was supervised by a joint military-police taskforce and affected areas span from after the motorway tollbooth to Tema Trassaco.