We can't provide accommodation for you - Accra Mayor to aggrieved residents

The Mayor of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije has indicated the assembly’s unpreparedness to provide accommodation of any sort for residents living around a building marked for evacuation at Adabraka.

In an interview with the AMA boss, he emphasized the need for an immediate evacuation advising the residents to comply in order to save their lives.

The AMA served a notice of evacuation to the owner and residents of neighboring houses following the detection of structural defects on the building following an inspection conducted on the building by a team of engineers from the Accra Metropolitan Works Department and the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE).

The AMA has locked up the facility to restrict owners from using the place to ensure safety.

According to the Mayor, the assembly has the responsibility to serve a common interest which is to protect lives and with the current situation can only do so by asking the residents to evacuate their homes.

“It is not the responsibility of the AMA to give you a place of abode when you are found to be in a state that is not conducive for your own livelihood and existence. Let’s stop depending on government for everything. Everything cannot be done by government. We have the responsibility to protect the common interest which is to save the life of people,” he emphasized.

He said the residents has families and friends outside Adabraka where they can find refuge until they are asked to return after the demolishing exercise.

Mr. Vanderpuije’s comments follow requests from residents who have been ordered to vacate their homes before the facility which serves as a warehouse be demolished to provide accommodation for them as they have nowhere to go.

However, Mr. Okoe Vanderpuije said the building will be demolished on Friday December 16, 2016.