Kumasi Disabled's Business Project Destroyed

The management of the Pampaso Goil filling station in Kumasi has allegedly destroyed a concrete floor built near the station by a group of physically-challenged persons to mount a metal container to restart their collapsed snacks and bar business.

The destruction, which followed a controversy over the ownership of the land, has resulted in the loss of two million cedis to the group. The cost of erecting the platform was met from a ў10 million cedis donation by the Ghana National Trust Fund (GNTF) to support the group to revamp the business and get its members off the streets.

For almost a year, the group, operating under the name of Christian Fellowship Evangelistic Association of Ghana, had been soliciting public support to go into business but help did not come until the GNTF recently intervened with a ў10- million donation, following an appeal made on its behalf by the Times.

The association's leadership, speaking to the Times in Kumasi yesterday, complained bitterly about the alleged action of the filling station management.

The association's president, Prince Adu, said the site was given to them by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) after its original location at the Asafo Lorry Park was taken over by M-Plaza.

Mr Adu said the association, was allocated the present site through the effort of former Ashanti Regional Minister, S.K Boafo, and for the past one year, it had kept its container there while soliciting for funds to restart the project.

“The action of the station management came as a shock because for all the time that the container was there, nobody ever questioned us about it,” he stated.

He appealed to the association's members to desist from parading the streets, begging for alms, and called on the KMA to help resolve the issue amicably.

He said the association had made a formal complaint to the Kumasi Central Police who confirmed this to the Times and said investigations were going on.

Officials at the Goil station, however, denied any knowledge of the alleged destruction when the Times contacted them on the issue yesterday.
The Station Manager, Mrs. Constance Agyekum, said the accusation was false, and added that she had never met the group in the area.

She wondered why the executive of the association did not contact her to find out if it was their station that ordered the destruction of the concrete platform.

Mrs. Agyekum said that about seven months ago, she saw that a red container had been placed near the station and it was explained to her that the vehicle that was conveying it broke down and therefore it was left there.

She said the next time she saw that the container had been well positioned at the premises of the station but she never met the owner. However, a few weeks ago, she saw some people mounting a concrete platform at the site and when she questioned them, they could not give any explanation.