Few days after members of the Anloga Wood Workers Union agreed to relocate to the newly built Wood Village at Sokoban in Kumasi, your authoritative TODAY has chanced upon information unraveling the myth surrounding their disagreement with the Kufuor administration to relocate to the ultra-modern Sokoban Wood Village.
Members of the union, TODAY has gathered, were displeased about the relocation from their original site to the ‘one way’ Sokoban Wood village not only because of all the reasons they gave to the then government and the general public, but mainly because of the fact that, they could no longer indulge in their illegal timber deals.
Deep throat Sources within the union revealed to TODAY that going to the Sokoban Wood village which had ‘only one main road’ would easily expose their illegal activities to the police and military hence they would either be unable to continue their illegal sawn timber deals or pay more bribes which would affect their businesses.
“You see, at Anloga we have several routes leading to the place; about 10, so we have been dodging them (the security services) with the (illegally sawn) woods but now that they are taking us to that place, there is only one main road and the soldiers will catch us everyday”, the source lamented.
Among their reasons for their refusal was the claim that their businesses would collapse because their customers would not be prepared to travel to the new location which is about five-kilometres away.
They also argued that there were not enough sheds at the village to accommodate the over 4,000 carpenters expected to be resettled there.
Though these supposed problems have not been addressed by the NDC, the artisans have accepted to move their machines and other things to the new place because their leaders claim to have discussed their grievances with the relocation committee already but could not tell what came up.
However, the very few who have refused to relocate stand to face serious attacks from their colleagues who have accepted to, after series of meetings with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Mayor.
During their preparations towards relocation on Friday, August 28, Canopy the President of the Union, Reverend Samuel Fugah expressed surprise at the refusal by some of its members to relocate to the new Wood Village.
He described the turn of events as “worrying” as they had all, earlier agreed to move to the Sokoban Village.
He warned that those, who refused to re-locate did so at their own risk since they had no basis for the “hard-line” position.
The leadership of the Union, he said, would hold an emergency meeting and later confer with the Metropolitan Chief Executive on how to deal with the situation.
FROM JAMES APPIAKORANG JNR., KUMASI
