Kaiser Flat Occupants Evacuated

A taskforce of the TDC Development Company Limited, personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and police on Thursday stormed the dilapidated blocks in Tema Kaiser Flat Enclave at Community 4, Tema to evict some occupants based on a court order.

The exercise, which was led by a court bailiff, was conducted in peaceful manner since over 80 percent of the occupants had already packed their belongings from the affected blocks.

Officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) also cut supply of water and electricity to the affected blocks while TDC has also locked all the empty rooms.

NADMO personnel barricaded the area to protect lives.

The order was issued by the Tema High Court in 2013 after the TDC Development Company Ltd opined that Flats 407, 408, 410 and 415 had failed structural integrity tests conducted by AESL.

Janet Barnes, who occupies Room 3 of Flat 407, has secured an interim injunction from the Tema High Court (Land Division) to prevent TDC Development Company Limited from demolishing it.

When DAILY GUIDE visited the area yesterday, occupants were seen conveying their properties.

Director-General of NADMO, Nana Agyemang Prempeh, who spoke to the paper, mentioned that they had provided alternative accommodation for displaced occupants to help them look for permanent places within a shortest possible time.

According to him, Tema NADMO and TDC would be working hard to provide some relief items to the affected persons.

Officials of TDC Development Company Ltd noted that affected residents were given lands as compensation, adding that most of the current occupants are squatters.

The decision to demolish the four of the Kaiser Flats led to a long-standing legal battle between the company and the occupants who had resolved to resist such move.

Some occupants sued the company at the Tema High Court and lost and they moved on to the Court of Appeal and lost again in November 2013 to the company.

Following the court order, the TDC Development Company Limited served eviction orders and notified occupants of the impending demolition of the flats which had been declared uninhabitable due to serious structural defects..