By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, March 21, GNA – Residents of Tema Community One Site Three have expressed strong opposition to the recent demolition of homes, structures, and garages by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) Ghana Limited.
On Friday, the affected residents, led by Mr. Godsway Dzene, the Assemblyman for the Ashiboi Electoral Area, marched to the TDC to express their dissatisfaction.
Mr. Dzene expressed deep concerns to officials over how the company’s task force conducted its demolition exercise.
He stated that the task force had been indiscriminately demolishing structures and marking properties with the inscription “Remove now by TDC” without prior notice or engagement with the residents.
He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the sudden nature of the demolitions shocked the residents, many of whom had invested their resources in developing their properties and lamented the lack of consultation and transparency in the process.
“We thought it was only structures and containers but to our amazement boys’ quarters built by TDC which people own. They are writing remove now, remove to where? There was no engagement at all with the residents,” he stated.
He said although the task force started the demolishing two weeks ago in other areas, they came to site three, three days ago, indicating that they had demolished some structures between OLAMS and five traffic.
He emphasised that affected individuals should have been allowed to discuss the issue with the relevant authorities before any action was taken, questioning why the company chose to proceed without first engaging the community to explore alternative solutions or provide adequate notice.
The aggrieved residents told the TDC official to stop the task force from going to the area.
Officials of the TDC Ghana Limited however informed them that the new managing director of the company was yet to be fully briefed on the issue and would therefore need time to review the matter.
This, however, infuriated the residents whose posture was becoming aggressive, making the officials allow them to meet the Managing Director, Mr. Courage Nunekpeku who assured them of scheduling an engagement with them by the close of the day.
GNA
LS/KOA