<<Print>>

Residents of Aboabo in the Asokore Mampong Municipality in the Ashanti Region have dared their Municipal Chief Executive Officer, Nuru Hamidan, to carry out an intended demolition of their buildings and make their day.

The Municipal Assembly has served notice of demolition of houses along the Palele River, which serves as a boundary between Aboabo –Apagyahene and Sawaba, following the claim by the Assembly that the area is a flood prone and that any building without authentic documents would be pulled down.

But the irate residents have accused MCE Hamidan of collecting ‘kickback’ from residents who were living in wooden structures along the Palele River before they were demolished last week. Mr. Hamidan has, however, refuted the bribe allegation as lies and dare his accusers to provide evidence to proof their case.

The Concerned Youth of Aboabo-Apagyahene are, however, threatening to open a can of worms about their MCE in the coming days if he dares demolish their houses. “We are waiting for him to come and demolish those structures and we will see what will happen in Ghana”, the youth of Aboabo have warned.

Briefing the media on the situation, Mohammed Lawac, the Assemblyman of Aboabo-Apagyahene accused the MCE and the Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency, Muntaka Mubarak of employing unruly tactics to snatch a land from a neighbor, but failed in their bid because the person had correct documents to prove ownership of the said piece of land.

The Assemblyman blamed the duo of teaming up in the name of demolition to snatch their lands from them once again for their personal use. Sounding a word of caution to the MCE, Hamidan and Muntaka Mubarak, the Assemblyman said: “We will advise ourselves during election time since we have suffered for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC)”.

Lawac stressed that they are not happy with the utterances of the MCE who sees them as ‘foreigners’. A resident of the area, named Muntala Chakapama, accused the Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly for refusing to de-silt the Palele River, which he said is the main cause of the floods in the area.

Chakapama was of the view that authorities have to work on the storm drain to accommodate flow of water when it rains and stop chasing innocent people out of their houses. Demystifying the allegations against him, MCE Mohammed Hamidan denied collecting money from anyone. According to him, he has no knowledge about the said charges.

“Maybe they are referring to someone else and want to factor me in as the person who collected the money from them”. The MCE told The Chronicle that people of Palele have been served with notice six months ago to evacuate from the place, since the area is characterized as a flood prone zone and that a series of meetings have been arranged between the residents and authorities, with the ultimate aim to evacuate the area before danger strikes.

The Asokore Mampong MCE indicated that the demolition exercise is in two phases, namely the demolition of wooden structures and buildings along waterways. “We are not giving them any further extension of time. A lot of communication has gone on but they have refused to comply”, he said.