Naa Bettey Nelson
16 November 2009
Tensions went high at Avenor, over the weekend, when the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) authority, together with the Police Service, and some city guards, brought in bulldozers to pull down illegal structures in the area.
At about 4:00 a.m. over the weekend, the AMA came in with earthmoving equipment and bulldozers to pull down structures, all from the Avenor Primary School, and where Muslims in the area had built structures to do their business.
The demolition affected parts of the school building, which has compelled the pupils to stay at home for some time. As at the time the Accra file visited the area, the children were not in school, while most of the doors of the classrooms were left unlocked.
Some residents told the file that authorities of the school had earlier on told the children not to come to school, since there was going to be a demolition exercise.
Meanwhile, some police personnel noted that authorities of the assembly had earlier on informed the residents to vacate from the premises, but they were ignored.
The demolition was not without some problems as there was a fracas between some Ahmadiyya Muslims and the AMA, as they (Muslims) also claimed that the land in question belonged to them, resulting in two people being injured and having to be rushed to hospital.
"This land belongs to the Ahmadiyyas, and we are all Ahmadiyyas, because they are all Muslims like us, so we can trade on it," claimed Hamid Ahmed a caretaker on the property.
Also as the bulldozer began destroying the structures, some people also quickly evacuated their belongings and set fire to the structures.
But, personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service managed to bring the fire under control.
The Accra Regional Police Operations Commander, Superintendent Sylvester Ganyo, also told the media that they informed the squatters a week ago, and that they were aware of the exercise.
He said he was sure that no property was burnt apart from the illegal structures.
David Imro, a blacksmith who structure was destroyed, also condemned the attitude of the police and the AMA over the exercise.
But the Accra File's worry is the school buildings involved in the exercise. Where are the children going to learn? The Ghana Education Service should do something for theses unfortunate children.
Aside the demolishing, the school was in a very deplorable state, with most of the furniture and the door locks broken.
Later in the afternoon, after the demolition exercise, when this file visited the place traders had taken over the classrooms.
They had packed their wares into them, while others were fast asleep.
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