Dagombaline demolition exercise leaves several persons displaced

Scores of residents of Dagombaline in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti Region have been displaced following a demolition exercise carried out to allow for the construction of a road.

The affected residents are accusing authorities of unfair treatment and are demanding compensation.

Speaking to Citi News, they noted that they have genuine documents showing that they are the rightful owners of the land and that their buildings had not encroached the area earmarked for the road construction.

“I was in the room yesterday [Sunday], and just when I was about to eat, they asked me to take all my belongings from the house to allow for the demolition exercise. I told them that won’t be possible. My husband showed them all documents indicating that the land belongs to us, but they did not listen. As I was in the bedroom packing my belongings, I heard the sound of their machines that they had indeed started demolishing our house while I was inside. I was not able to pick all my belongings. They pulled our building down,” one of the affected persons, Sadia Osman lamented.

“I have been here since 1976. The Asantehene at the time gave out this land to me. He asked the Chief of Amakom to serve as a witness. It was given out to me for a period of 100 years. I pay my property rate every year. I have all the documents to show. We need to be compensated. If we are not compensated, we don’t know what we are going to do next,” another person, Mohammed Bawa stated.

The Dagomba Community in the Ashanti Region says it is appalled by the situation and has joined the call for the affected persons to be adequately compensated.

“About a thousand persons have been affected. We believe they should be compensated. The people should have been properly engaged before the demolition exercise,” Abubakar Aminu, the Youth Chairman for the Dagomba community stated.

Citi News’ Checks show that the demolition exercise was sanctioned by the Oforikrom Municipal Assembly.

The Assembly Member for the Oforikrom East Electoral Area, John Nketia, however, says all the affected persons were informed about the exercise well ahead of time.

“We want to construct the road from Afful Nkwanta to Dagombaline, so we decided to remove all those who have encroached the area that has been earmarked for the road construction. We informed them nine months ago”.