KMA To Demolish 70 Houses

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) will in the first week of March 2011 embark on a massive demolition exercise at Atafoa Boahia. About 70 unauthorized houses have been penciled for demolition. Several unauthorized structures have sprung up in the community and in the process, most of the developers encroach on the major road linking Barekese to Offinso. Owners of the affected houses, most of which are at the completion point, have been given a one-month ultimatum to leave the site to enable the KMA to embark on the demolition exercise. Clement Kegeri, spokesperson for the Kumasi Mayor, Samuel Sarpong, issued the threat of the demolition exercise at a press conference in Kumasi on Monday. He said owners of the said houses recently admitted at a meeting with the KMA that indeed, they built their houses without permission and that they had also encroached upon areas earmarked for public amenities. Kegeri observed that places earmarked for projects like police station, fire service stations, sanitations sites, post office among other vital amenities for the community, had been taken over illegally by developers. The Kumasi Mayor’s PRO recounted that about four months ago, some houses which were situated on illegal sites in the same areas were pulled down by the KMA to serve as deterrent to others. To the KMA’s surprise, Kegeri noted, the assembly received a letter from the Akyempimhene, Oheneba Adusei Poku, about the springing up of illegal structures in the same vicinity. Later, checks conducted by the KMA, he pointed out, clearly confirmed the traditional leader’s concern so the assembly invited about 200 inhabitants of the area to a meeting where they admitted that they had encroached upon lands for public amenities. Kegeri said the KMA did not take delight in causing damage to property, stressing the assembly was only exercising its rightful duty which would be in the interest of both the KMA and the affected people.