Man appeals to President over seized toilet

A resident of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra region has appealed to President Nana Akufo-Addo to intervene in a tango between him and the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) over a public toilet.

The man; Nashiru Yusif, alias Nash, said that ASHMA is using its clout to bully him away from the landed property which he inherited from his late father.

“My father owned this land and passed it on to me as an inheritance. However, ASHMA is asking me to either make it a shareholder in the running of a toilet or pay them GHC 50, 000 for it. But I don’t have that kind of money.”

In a statement signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Saturday, Mr Yusif said he was a total mismatch to ASHMA and therefore pleaded with the President to step his foot down on ASHMA.

The toilet in question is located at the VALCO Flats in Ashaiman. Before ASHMA was carved out of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), the TMA had built the toilet on the land.

He said he inherited the land from his father had sued the TMA over the property and won. Upon winning the case, he made some upgrades on the facility and started running it.

Soon after however, the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) was carved out of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and with its new autonomy, ASHMA has moved in to possess the toilet again.

He said an ensuing confrontation between him and ASHMA saw the General Assembly of ASHMA asking him to either partner ASHMA or pay GHC50, 000 as a buy-off of his property.

“I don’t know where they expect me to get that kind of money from; and to think that this is my own property that we are talking about.”

“I am begging President Akufo-Addo to defend my rights in this issue. I know our President is a human rights lawyer who cares about ordinary people like me,” he said.

Meanwhile, GNA in Accra made some calls to get the side of their story that never materialised

An official who was contacted pleaded anonymity and said he could not talk on it until the whole assembly came to a consensus.