US $60,000 House Pulled Down

If there is any Ghanaian who will for ever curse her stars this year and (like the biblical Job) the day she was created, then that person is Mrs. Mavis Agyemang, who is popularly known as Abba Asman, who returned to Ghana after 26 years sojourn in the US.

Like every other patriotic citizen, she returned to Ghana early this year to contribute her quota towards the resuscitation of the nation's economy.

In so doing, she established Reminiscence Travel and Tours company at the Trinity House, which was fast carving a name for itself until four months ago when armed robbers stormed the house and made away with several valuables, an incident which nearly destabilized her.

As if this was not enough, Asman was hit with another tragedy on November 14, this year when her last investment, a $60,000 mansion which is the fruit of the 27 years labour between her and the husband in the US was demolished by one Amadu Kealeem, Managing Director of Kea Ghana Limited, a construction company.

The demolition was done without any court order, bringing back eerie memories of the era of the revolution when the recourse to brutal force became an accepted norm.

Chronicle gathered that Kaleem went to the extent of threatening construction workers at the site that he was a relative to the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, and that he could even shoot and kill some of the workers and go scot free.

"Any one who will stand in my way and prevents me from carrying out the demolition exercise will be shot", Kaleem reportedly threatened the workers as he ordered the operator of the bulldozer to start pulling down the mansion.

When Kaleem was arrested he denied carrying a gun to the site.

A source at the Vice-President's office last Monday denounced Kaleem's claim and said he was not in any way related to the Vice-President.

"Besides, the Vice-President believes in the rule of law and would not countenance the use of brutal force or any lawless activities like what you are telling us ", the source said.

The source further appealed to the general public to look out for people who would want to use the name of the Vice president or any government official to justify their nefarious activities.

"People should be bold enough to report such people to the security agencies for proper action to be taken against them', the official said, adding that such misconduct is becoming rampant these days and must be discouraged.

Asman, who is still battling to get over the shock of the robbery incident at the Trinity house, could not believe what she was hearing when the news got to her that the building they have toiled all these years to put up around Madina Ray co area had been demolished.

Chronicle gathered that Kaleem, a.k.a Business, who had hired a bulldozer to carry out his operation on the fateful day, wielded a gun and threatened to shoot anybody who would obstruct him as he supervised the demolition exercise.

Narrating her ordeal Asman, said about two years ago, she came down from the US and bought a parcel of land from the sons of Nii Amon Kotey, the chief of Nkwantanan.

The sale of the land to her, she said was done upon the instruction of the chief, so that the proceeds could be used to cater for his medical bills.

She said it was made clear to her that that plot belonged to one Dr. Amon Kotey, who is the brother of the chief and that due to the ill health of the chief it has been agreed that they sell the land to use the proceeds to look after him

According to Asman she agreed to pay for the land only when a search she conducted at the Lands Commission indicated that indeed Dr.Kotey was the owner of the plot.

"During the search, we discovered that one Col. Bayorbor (rtd) first bought the land but later sold it back to Dr. Kotey, who happened to be a relative of the chief", she said.

Upon these findings, she paid for the land, awarded a contract for the construction of he house and left for the US, where she remained until she decided to return home this year.

Chronicle gathered that until two weeks ago when Kaleem emerged to claim ownership of the land everything was on course.

When Kaleem showed up at the site he claimed that the said plot belongs to him and that he bought that plot as far back as 1978 and threatened to pull down the building.

After the confrontation between Kaleem and the workers the contractor relayed Kaleem's claim to Asman who reported the issue to the Madina police, who fixed a date for an amicable settlement, but Kaleem without any court order took the law into his own hands and wielding a gun, led a bulldozer to raze the building to the ground.

When the vandalism was still on some residents who could not believe what was going on alerted the Madina police who rushed to the scene, but before they could get hold of Kaleem, he and the bulldozer operator took to their heels.

The police, however, managed to seize the bulldozer, which has been sent to the Madina police station.

Chronicle learnt that Kaleem and the bulldozer driver were later accompanied to the Nima police station by Major Sulemana (rtd) on November 17, where they were arrested and detained but later granted bail.

Chronicle police sources indicated that the document that was tendered by Kaleem to police did not bear his name but that of one Dr. Abukare.

In the course of the interrogation it was established that Kaleem was rather a caretaker of the plot and whether the document he tendered was a genuine one is also yet to be established.

Chronicle gathered that Kaleem and his colleagues would soon be arraigned before court.

All efforts to get Kaleem to comment on the issue proved futile even though he agreed to speak to Chronicle last Friday night.

"I have already given my statement to the police; I cannot speak to you on phone", he told this reporter on Monday afternoon and he turned his cellphone off.

Other attempts to meet him at his office at Spintex Road near the Ghana Cylinder factory also proved futile.