Haatso: 15 Houses Demolished By Soldiers, Police

About 15 houses at Haatso in Accra, have been demolished by armed military and police officers.

A number of uncompleted buildings were also demolished, according to some eyewitnesses.

The over 50 soldiers and 70 police personnel carried out the exercise on Saturday August 2, 2018, with the alleged backing of the Ga East Municipal Assembly.

According to one of the landlords, the security men did not give reasons for the action.

One of the affected residents, Frank Stanley, also described the exercise as a selective demolition.

“There are other structures that have been left standing, untouched. At the moment, we have been trying to reach the chief who sold the lands to us but we have not been able to get in touch with them.”

Allegations from community
According to owners of the buildings, the land on which their houses are situated has been sold to some expatriates to build a shopping mall.

The land in question, according to them, belongs to two families, the Odai Ntows and Narhmans.

The families are said to have been at loggerheads over the parcel of land.

The Odai Ntows reportedly sold the land to the expatriates.

The same land, according to the landlords, has been sold to another developer for the construction of apartments for the World Bank.

To pave way for the said shopping mall, they had to carry out the demolition exercise.

The exercise which began at about 7:00am, was carried out on the instructions of persons believed to be from the Ga East Municipal Assembly.

According to residents, over 50-armed military men accompanied by about 70 police personnel were present for the exercise.