By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Friday, 30 November 2007
ONLY hours after the demolition of some of the unauthorised houses at the Weija Dam area in Accra on Wednesday, thieves invaded the ruins of the buildings and made away with personal effects and building materials.
The Times learnt that they arrived, about 11 pm on Wednesday, barely five hours after the demolition, and looted items yet to be removed by owners of the affected buildings.
Some of the houses which were marked to be pulled down but were not because they were not too close to the dam site, were also raided by the thieves.
A number of the victims who confirmed the thefts when the Times called yesterday said that security personnel detailed to oversee the exercise left the scene soon after it ended because it was getting dark.
Some young men believed to be thieves were spotted by the Times carrying away iron rods from a razed building site.
The group, numbering about eight, bolted as our photographer tried to take shots of them.
The Times was also told that some occupants of buildings initially marked for demolition but which were not pulled down on the first day, have abandoned their homes.
According to them, they are now living in fear because the demolition team on Wednesday violated an agreement with the Weija Member of Parliament , Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, not to include buildings which do not pose any threat to the water treatment plant.
Some of them had started removing roofing sheets, louver blades and frames, doors and security gates of their buildings when the Times got there.
One of them George Wortodzor Bodzah, said, "We are now living in fear since we don’t know when they will come again. My family and I have prepared to evacuate in case the exercise would be continued. We have nowhere to go. I will have to sleep here with my family."
Another victim of the demolition, Ms Appiah Danquah Paxman, who looked distraught said, "I don’t know what to do with myself now. I have lost all that I have taken years of toil to build."
She said that her sisters, brother and herself had to put up with their friends after their house was pulled down on Wednesday.
Twenty-five unauthorised houses close to the Weija Dam were on Wednesday pulled down by a task force contracted by the Ghana Water Company.
They were among some 2,000 structures originally earmarked to be pulled down but the demolition of the others was suspended after Ms Botchway had intervened because some of them were at the centre of the town and did not pose any danger to the dam.
The demolition exercise followed warning to encroachers of land belonging to the Water Company to move from the restricted area to protect the dam.
No comments:
Post a Comment