ABOUT 70 retired soldiers residing at the ?condemned? (old) barracks of the Uaddara barracks in Kumasi have been given the quit order from the premises.

They were expected to quit by June 7, according to a quit order of April 10, this year, and signed by Lt. F. C. Adzasu, for the Commanding Officer of the 4th Infantry Battalion.

Accoding to Lt. Adzasu, the exercise was to enable the unit to take on newly posted soldiers from Accra.

The ex-soldiers were to strictly comply with the directive or face ejection for illegally occupying the said premises.

A spokesman for the affected ex-soldiers expressed surprise at the decision of the military authorities and explained that the place had been allocated to them at the instance of Maj. Gen. Smith, then Commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade.

The aggrieved criticized the exercise code-named ?Operation Sweep off all Pensioners in the Barracks.?

They described the NPP government as heartless, for ejecting them when they had served the nation in several other ways.

The retired soldiers claimed they have been compelled to take rooms at high rent and appealed to the government to be considerate in dealing with ex-soldiers.