Demo In Takoradi

Scores of residents of Takoradi Amanful early yesterday morning staged what they termed a mini-demonstration to protest against the sale of plots of land in front of Takoradi Flour Mills on the Takoradi-Cape Coast road, to Mechanical Lloyd, an automobile company.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Capt. (Rtd) Anthony Cudjoe, is allegedly selling the plots of land.

The alleged sale of the land by the MCE has also attracted stiff opposition from other indigenes of the metropolis and some elected assembly members, who questioned the transparency in the sale of the land in question to Mechanical Lloyd.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the elected assembly members moved for a resolution during one of the assembly’s meeting to reverse the sale of the land in question, but it never materialized.

According to the protestors, they were against the sale of the land because of its strategic location. They maintained that the said plots of land, also called Kasuarina belt, could either be used to expand the road or construct an interchange to help ease congestion in the metropolis.

“Apart from that, the area is the only safe open space where we the people of Amanful can run to whenever disaster strikes in our community,” they added.

The demonstrators held placards, some of which read ‘Takoradi Deserves An Interchange’, ‘Captain If You Sell Kasuarina Belt, You’ll Lose The Sekondi Seat’ and ‘STMA Where Is Your Competence, Preserve Our City Don’t Destroy The Beauty’.

The leader of the group, Francis Eghan, popularly called ‘Abatan’, alleged that the group circulated several petitions to the Lands Commission to reverse the sale of the land or meet the wrath of the indigenes.

“But all these interventions aimed at reversing the sale of the land in question did not materialize,” he added.

When contacted, John Laste, Public Relations Officer of STMA, remarked that the assembly did not own any land and therefore could not sell plots of land.

“The protestors might be ignorant, but let us wait for a while and see what will come out of the so-called mini-demonstration, then we can properly address the issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Nicholas Agbevor, has granted an interlocutory injunction, filed by Ekow Amua Sekyi, on behalf of Takoradi Flour Mills, restraining the Lands Commission, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) and their agents from developing or constructing the plots of land. The court adjourned the case to October 22, 2012.