Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Achimota branch Number One, Mr Paul Boahene Asante, has furiously declared that his outfit will deal drastically with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) if it refused to pay compensations to victims who lost properties at a demolition exercise held recently in the area.
Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) Achimota branch number one, Mr Paul Boahene Asante addressing journalists at the press conference
Addressing a press conference last week, the GPRTU chairman held that the AMA illegally demolished their office located at Achimota on Thursday, 18th February, 2010 without any prior notice.
According to Mr Asante, the union acquired a building permit from the AMA on 6th October, 1994 and the building was completed in 1995.
He said since the building was completed in 1995, the AMA has never complained about the location of the building.
“The then Mayor, Hon. Solomon Darko and the late Hon. Baah Wiredu, who was then the Minister of Local Government, with a team of press men and security men came to this office on several occasions to have meetings with us, but they never told us the construction of the new Nsawam road will affect our office,” Mr Asante recounted.
Mr Boahene disclosed that several properties including an amount GH¢11,600.00 were destroyed during the demolition exercise.
“Our concern is that, if the need arises that this building must be demolished, the AMA should have given us some days to remove our properties from the land to prevent losses,” he submitted.
“The AMA should tell us why and how their officials bulldozed their way through that afternoon around 3:00 p.m., on the said date and demolished the authorized building of the Achimota branch of the GPRTU office.
…The Accra Mayor, Alfred Vanderpuije, lied to the Ghanaian public on the 19th February, 2010 edition of the Daily Graphic that they demolished unauthorized structures at the old Achimota station because they were illegally cited and that we had no permits,” Mr Asante stressed.
STORY: ISAAC OBENG & MILLICENT YARO, PIJ INTERNS