GHA begins mass demolition for road expansion at Nsawam

Correspondence from Eastern Region:

The Ghana Highway Authority has commenced a mass demolition of buildings along both sides of the Ofankor-Nsawam stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway, allegedly, without inadequate notice to the residents and property owners.

The destruction of the properties is to pave way for the government to start the construction of additional carriageway from the Ofankor to Nsawam section of the Accra-Kumasi highway.

Property owners and tenants are currently going through psychological trauma as their multi-million investments are being raised down in the blink of the eye. Occupants of rented accommodations are presently oblivious of their next course of action.

Facilities such as fuel stations, schools, hotels, shops, mosques and clinics among many other structures are being raised down even though they have necessary permits from the GHA as well as the Ga West and the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Assemblies dated in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005.

Some of the property owners and residents who expressed their grievances to Ghanaweb indicated that the action by the GHA was an “ambush” demolition action since they were hardly given enough notice and a negotiation opportunity for possible compensation.

They disclosed that they have formed a group, hired a lawyer to, first of all, put an injunction on the demolition and subsequently to battle it out in court with the Ghana Highway Authority.

"…their timing is wrong. The time they came is a time we are being told not to go out (due to COVID-19). Suddenly we saw them come with caterpillars and bulldozers, destroying properties. At a time many people were living in their houses. At least they could have waited for the virus to end. No. They just came saying they are from Ghana Highways.

“For us we will not battle with the government but they should look for ways and means they can let us have our compensation which should be reasonable. They cannot just come and put just any amount in our hands,” an affected hotel owner, Emmanuel Sarfo, expressed his grievance.

Another desperate woman ranted, "They have not given us anything. They said we should relocate. We have been living here 15 years now. My husband bought the land in 2005 and after building, no one has come to tell us anything. We went to Lands Commission in Koforidua to verify but nobody told us this land was for the government. We have all the necessary permits too.”

Another aggrieved woman, Nafisatu Ashley, who is a landlord, and sublet pieces of land along that highway to others, expressed that “When they came to write on our walls, they told us to go to the Highways. They told me that if I go there early, they will come and value my property and then pay me compensation. After payment, they can give me about six months to develop a new place and relocate there.

“I asked my brother who is closer to the Highways to go and find out for me. He went there and they scheduled him to return on Tuesday. On Monday, the lockdown had started; we could not move out (from our homes to the Highways). While in the lockdown, Suddenly, I heard they had started raising down properties. So, I said we have every legal document; why are you breaking down buildings in this lockdown? They said for them the government had given them instruction and authority to destroy them and that is what they would do.

“So, I told them I would not allow them to raise down my property. Because I would not have evidence when all my properties are destroyed. So I called my relations who came to stand behind me and after exchanges of words, they (bulldozers) bypassed.”

A gas station owner, expressed that “I came here in 1999, when I finished everything and started business in 2000, the government has never brought anything to me saying it is taking my land as compensation. Suddenly, they came recently saying the government said it has paid us compensation already so they were coming to destroy our properties. We have gone for lawyers and negotiating with them (the GHA).”

What the residents are shocked of is why the institution doing the demolition was the same government institution that gave them the permits after collecting huge sums of money from them but never told them the land had been earmarked for road construction.

Meanwhile, a letter found by Ghanaweb addressed to one of the aggrieved residents and signed by the Acting Chief Executive of the GHA, N.D. Brown, gave the notification that demolition was going to take place on all properties extended into the road reservation (45m from the existing road centre line) acquired by government of Ghana (GOG) by Executive Instrument (E.I. 17) dated September 16, 2005.

The letter ordered the owners to remove their properties within the road reservation acquired by the government in the E.I. 17 before 19th April 2020 to pave way for the Accra-Kumasi dualisation road project to commence.

The letter further stated, “Note that compensation has long been paid to those who were in occupation of the acquired road corridor right after the publication of the E.I. 17.” However, it directed the aggrieved to contact the Chief Valuer of the GHA for redress of any compensation-related issues.