House owners broke down in tears when more than one hundred policemen and military officers, as well as officials of the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) last Wednesday, November 16, 2005, undertook an extensive mass demolition exercise at Nmai Dzorn, near Legon extension in Accra.

The officers who were fully armed with pistols and other ammunitions used bulldozers, excavators and other heavy equipment for the exercise which lasted for several hours. The exercise has since been condemned and described as illegal by some estate developers. Though no reason was given for the action, some of the affected persons said they suspected foul play. They also expressed grave concern about the fact that no prior notice was given for the exercise.

Eye witnesses told Daily Guide that about 9:30am on that day, several security officers led by a certain ASP W. K Asante from the police striking force and 48 Engineers Regiment of the army and officials from TMA drove to selected sites of building projects and started pulling down both completed and uncompleted buildings.

According to them, the entire area was cordoned off by security officers, for the operations to go on successfully. Workers at the site who tried to find out the reason for the action, were pushed aside and their mobile phones seized. One of the project supervisors, Mr. Awuku Dotse said ASP Asante informed him (Mr. Dotse) that they were ordered from the South Brigade Command. He explained that he was supervising workers who were then working on a storey building and an outhouse when the officers arrived and started pulling down almost everything. ?They even tried to uproot the entire foundation, but they could not because of the amount of concrete used?, he sadly narrated.

One of the house owners, Mr. Seth Galley tearfully said his entire 8-storey bedroom house was just pulled down like that, ?but I know what to do?, he threatened. He recalled that he had been a victim on three occasions. The two others he said occurred about two years ago.

Mr. Gally gave the registration numbers of the vehicles used as; Mitsubishi 4x4 with number 34GA79, Dongeng with number 98A17, Peugeot with number 98A17, Peugeot with number GP1155, two white Nissan Pick-Ups with number GP 1611, GP 1092 and Toyota Pick-UP belonging to TMA with numbers GW3754S. Buildings destroyed included; storey buildings, semi detached houses, office complexes and many others.