We are not moving
Gilbert Boyefio
26/07/2006
The Roman Ridge, Airport Railways Line Residents and the Containers Association, have dared the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and challenged its eviction orders to vacate from their present dwelling. This follows an eviction order issued on July 24, 2006 by the Ayawaso West Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of the AMA to the associations giving them three days notice to vacate.
In an interview with The Statesman , the Chairman for the Associations, Maclean Adika, said, the AMA does not have the right to evict them from the place because it is not in their jurisdiction. He disclosed that the portion of land falls in the jurisdiction of the Ghana Railways Company, and company has given them the license, with appropriate site plans, to stay on the land.
He noted that this not the first time the AMA is using such tactics to evict them from the place.
"In 1996, when they attempted the same thing we petitioned the previous government which prompted an advise to the then Ministry of Transport and Communication, the Managing Director of Ghana Railways Company including the Railways Solicitor, General Traffic Manager, the Civil Engineer, the Accra Area Manager and the Estate Officer, who established and agreed that our licence shall be reprocessed in to leasehold upon application and payment of the appropriate fees," he said.
He argued that the land on which they now live used to be one of the most unsanitary zones in the Airport, Roman Ridge and Dzorwulu environs. But this has ceased to be so since they acquired it from Railways Company. He said they have helped tidy up the place and made it habitable and thus prevented it from being converted into a huge garbage dump.
In a petition to the current government which was made available to The Statesman, the Association acknowledged government's efforts at revamping the railways network in Ghana for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
The Association said after the July, 1996 meeting with the authorities, several approaches by the association to get the Ayawaso Sub- Metro of the AMA on several occasions to have their situation regularised have failed. Instead, the Sub- Metro has undertaken an exercise to demolish all the structures and buildings in the zone.
He said, on September 29, 2003, they were again served with a notice from AMA to leave the land. The association therefore petitioned the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on September 30, 2006 and the AMA action was stopped pending further deliberations.
The petition said that structural developments of the association have been regulated by the Ghana Railways Company within a limited space of land, which is fifty feet or more away from the Railway tracks, in order not to interfere with their operations.
The petition said the association was therefore surprised by the actions of the AMA when they issued them an eviction order to give up the land within three days, a deadline which ends on July 26, 2006. "We are appealing to the President to come to our aid, because we are aware that certain influential people who have also acquired and built on the same railways reservation have their structures regularised," he added.
It further requested for a task force to be set up to undertake a critical survey of their situation and also come out with a fair and human solution to the problem. Copies of the petition were made to the Vice President, the Greater Accra regional Minister, the Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways and the Ghana Railways Company.
26/07/2006
The Roman Ridge, Airport Railways Line Residents and the Containers Association, have dared the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and challenged its eviction orders to vacate from their present dwelling. This follows an eviction order issued on July 24, 2006 by the Ayawaso West Sub-Metropolitan Assembly of the AMA to the associations giving them three days notice to vacate.
In an interview with The Statesman , the Chairman for the Associations, Maclean Adika, said, the AMA does not have the right to evict them from the place because it is not in their jurisdiction. He disclosed that the portion of land falls in the jurisdiction of the Ghana Railways Company, and company has given them the license, with appropriate site plans, to stay on the land.
He noted that this not the first time the AMA is using such tactics to evict them from the place.
"In 1996, when they attempted the same thing we petitioned the previous government which prompted an advise to the then Ministry of Transport and Communication, the Managing Director of Ghana Railways Company including the Railways Solicitor, General Traffic Manager, the Civil Engineer, the Accra Area Manager and the Estate Officer, who established and agreed that our licence shall be reprocessed in to leasehold upon application and payment of the appropriate fees," he said.
He argued that the land on which they now live used to be one of the most unsanitary zones in the Airport, Roman Ridge and Dzorwulu environs. But this has ceased to be so since they acquired it from Railways Company. He said they have helped tidy up the place and made it habitable and thus prevented it from being converted into a huge garbage dump.
In a petition to the current government which was made available to The Statesman, the Association acknowledged government's efforts at revamping the railways network in Ghana for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
The Association said after the July, 1996 meeting with the authorities, several approaches by the association to get the Ayawaso Sub- Metro of the AMA on several occasions to have their situation regularised have failed. Instead, the Sub- Metro has undertaken an exercise to demolish all the structures and buildings in the zone.
He said, on September 29, 2003, they were again served with a notice from AMA to leave the land. The association therefore petitioned the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on September 30, 2006 and the AMA action was stopped pending further deliberations.
The petition said that structural developments of the association have been regulated by the Ghana Railways Company within a limited space of land, which is fifty feet or more away from the Railway tracks, in order not to interfere with their operations.
The petition said the association was therefore surprised by the actions of the AMA when they issued them an eviction order to give up the land within three days, a deadline which ends on July 26, 2006. "We are appealing to the President to come to our aid, because we are aware that certain influential people who have also acquired and built on the same railways reservation have their structures regularised," he added.
It further requested for a task force to be set up to undertake a critical survey of their situation and also come out with a fair and human solution to the problem. Copies of the petition were made to the Vice President, the Greater Accra regional Minister, the Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways and the Ghana Railways Company.
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