Correspondence from Ashanti Region

Some wood sellers at the Akwatialine in the Asokore Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti region have accused the municipal assembly and the MCE, Kennedy Kankam of backing a contractor to illegally evacuate them without any prior notice.

According to the angry traders, they can't understand why a place that had been legally acquired and occupied by them for almost 50 years, could suddenly be seized by the assembly and the said contractor without any prior notice and subsequent arrangement.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb, Omar Mohammed, the association's secretary said, he was very disappointed in the MCE, Kennedy Kankam for authorising a contractor to evacuate them without at least making any arrangements for them.

According to him, the only thing he and his other executives could remember was that the MCE once told them he was going to assign the contractor to prepare a place for them so that the contractor could develop the current place they are occupying as wood sellers.

He said they pleaded with the MCE to take his time to explain things to them, and even allow the contractor to compensate them before relocating them to a new place.

Sadly, he said, they couldn't hear anything from the MCE again, but only to wake to witness this unlawful evacuation.

"Close to the Christmas season, the MCE met with us and promised that he was going to see about three(3) chiefs so that they would give him pieces of land where the contractor may prepare for us to occupy. After that meeting, they came to take measurements and did a head count of our members.

Just one week after the head count, the MCE invited us to his office where we thought that he was going to give us some words of hope. Unfortunately, he told us the contractor had assured him that he could develop the place we were occupying without evacuating us. We however got confused but the MCE told us the contractor would direct us on what to do next," he explained.

He further disclosed that the next thing they saw was that, the contractor had ordered his men to barricade the place to prevent them from entering to have access to their woods.

According to some wood sellers who spoke to GhanaWeb, in their attempts to question why they were given such ill-treatments, the next thing they saw was police brutalities amid shootings.

"They fired gunshots with live bullets. Some have been injured, and others were even arrested," a male wood seller disclosed.

Another female seller who claimed to have occupied the place for more than 40 years said, "Why must we be treated like animals on our own land? Is that how to forcibly seize someone's place of survival and daily bread from him? The MCE must come again. Why must they think of their own parochial interest without thinking of the masses? If you're not able to help put food on my table, must you also prevent me from eating?" she angrily quizzed.

Meanwhile, for some of the wood sellers, the evacuation was hugely going to affect them, their families and other people who depended on them for their daily survival.

According to them, the fight which started almost one week ago had still not been calmed due to the inactions of the MCE. They said the place had still barricaded despite their earlier protest.

The angry workers are however calling on the municipal assembly to stop harassing them with the forced evacuation. "We want to tell them that we want to remain here as wood sellers since we acquired it legally," they concluded.

Background

A fight that ensued between some youth at Akwatialine and some security patrol led to the injury of three wood sellers while nine(9) were allegedly arrested.

The misunderstanding occurred on Friday after the sellers had protested over an evacuation attempt by a certain contractor with authorisation from the municipal assembly.

The wood sellers in their attempts to stop the contractor from barricading the compound faced a tough time after a reinforcement team intervened to make to fight a brutal one