Regional News of Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Source: starrfmonline.com

Kotokuraba demolition: Plaintiff denies political mischief

Sabina Tweneboah, the woman who organised a group of market women to pray the Cape Coast High court to place an interlocutory injunction on the planned demolition of the old Kotokuraba market, has debunked claims that her action is politically motivated.

The demolition, as argued by city authorities, is to pave the way for the construction of a new market complex for the people of Cape Coast, but the Court upheld the plaintiff’s argument and placed an interlocutory injunction on the demolition exercise scheduled for Wednesday October 1.

Following the law suit, Tweneboah was accused by the governing NDC’s Cape Coast communication team of allowing herself to be used by the opposition to exact a hatchet job.

The group suggested that her actions were aimed at boosting the electoral fortunes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the completion of the market will cause the market women and Cape Coasters in general to “vote massively for the NDC: a situation the NPP doesn't want to be faced with.”

However, speaking to Starr News in Cape Coast, Tweneboah, who is in court, together with seven others, debunked such claims stating that she means well with her decision to go to court.

She explained that her actions are motivated merely by her quest to “protect the interest of all market women, as the security lapses at the market can cause them to lose their wares”.

Tweneboah added that the T and G fibre and other weak materials being used to construct temporary stores should be enough reason for concern.

According to her, precautionary measures are not being taken to guard against fire and natural disasters.

“The structures are poorly ventilated and the cubicles of the individual shops are also too small” to accommodate their large stock of goods.