31st DWM goes on demolition spree

In a screaming front-page headline story, the Free Press reports that at 600 Ghanaian residents and mechanics in the South East McCarthy Hill area of Gbawe, a suburb of Accra, face the possibility of losing their homes and workshops today, October 1, 1999. The paper says this so if the 31st December Women?s Movement (DWM) carries out its threat to demolish all structures around the Brick and Tile factory, which it has acquired in the name of Caridem Development Company Limited.

The paper says according to the ?horrified? and ?astounded? residents, who pleaded anonymity , they acquired the land through the chief of Gbawe, who promised to formulate their agreement in the year 2001, after the lapse of the lease agreement between the Gbawe stool and the government for the Brick and Tile factory built about 50 years ago.

The Free Press says the residents maintained that based on the assurance of the chief, they constructed fitting and machine shops, sawmills and chop bars, which offer training and employment to the people. According to them, they were therefore shocked to find a quit notice on their shops and houses from Caridem Development Company Limited on August 24, this year, ordering them to remove their belonging and leave the land on or before September 6, this year. The exercise, according to the quit order, is to enable a real estate development company to undertake a housing project.

The paper says the quit order was ironically, signed by a ?nameless? chief executive of the company.