Some displaced residents of the Kokomba market (popularly known as Sodom and Gomorrah) in Accra, yesterday stormed the national headquarters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
By 10am, most of them, numbering about 50, had arrived at the headquarters which is located at Asylum Down, with their personal effects. A similar number of people were said to have also besieged the Ridge office of NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, in search of succor.
Their mission there was simple: looking for money to return home up north where they came from.
Those were people whose buildings (wooden structures) were pulled down in last week’s raging demolition exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). Even though some of the affected victims of the demolition had since left for their hometowns, mostly in the three northern regions, many still remain stranded in the heart of the city, battling for places to lay their heads. They accused President John Mahama – himself a northerner – of virtual neglect.
It was a sorry sight to behold when Daily Guide visited the displaced victims at the NPP headquarters with some of the women among them having strapped their babies as young as a year old, to their backs. They complained of having no money to even buy food to eat, let alone to go back home.
There were visible signs of mosquito bites on the children’s faces, with signs of hunger, misery, devastation and disappointment written on the faces of the adults. Even though government is said to have provided some buses and other forms of transportation for some of the affected victims to return home, they indicated that help had stopped coming.
One of them who spoke to Daily Guide and gave her name as Kathouma, said they had been sleeping in the open space at the Kokomba market at the mercy of the weather and mosquitoes for the past two weeks since their buildings were razed down; but could no longer stay there because most of their children began falling ill.
According to her, they therefore resolved to seek solace at the NPP headquarters to see if leadership of the party could help them with monies or buses to return home.
Unfortunately however, on arrival, there was no party official at the headquarters to either listen to their concerns or offer any assistance because yesterday was a national holiday.
Source: Charles Takyi-Boadu/Daily Guide
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