The Municipal Chief Executive of Okaikwei North Municipality, Boye Laryea says the Assembly is bent on removing all unauthorized structures under the high tension cables in Christian Village.
He said the Assembly will do the right thing to save human lives and property.
According to him, the Assembly will not sit aloof and wait for disaster to strike before doing the needful.
Over three hundred unauthorized structures risk demolition at High Tension in Christian Village, a suburb in the Municipality for encroaching on Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) reserved lands.
The structures including homes, chop bars, food vendors, Lotto Kiosks, metal containers, drinking spots, shops and churches have been constructed under 11 KV High Tension cables.
The stretch of land spanning from the Golf Hills Road to the Lapaz Community Hospital Annex is set to be cleared for the safety of the occupants.
Quit letters and remove notices written on the walls of the structures from the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly (ONMA) to the ‘squatters’ have gone unheeded.
A letter dated April 1, 2022 inviting the occupants, opinion leaders among others to the stakeholder engagement to deliberate on the matter read: “the engagement would provide a platform for both the Assembly and the community to discuss and agree on the removal of the unauthorized structures along the High Tension”.
However, speaking at the community engagement with the residents under the 11KV high tension, Mr. Laryea warned that no amount of pleading is enough to deter the Assembly from doing what is right under the current circumstance.
He emphasized that it’s not everything that pleadings and begging can solve although the exercise win be executed with human face.
The Municipal Coordinator, Mr. Benjamin Armah in an address said it was only right for the Assembly to engage the community indicating that it is not as though the Assembly is seeking permission from the people before carrying out its intended action.
He empathized that the portion of land the people are occupying is for the government stressing that they are illegally occupying the land.
Mr. Armah said per the bye laws of ECG, it is illegal to build structures under high tension poles.
He called for peace and dialogue among the parties explaining that the community engagement was crucial for them to salvage their belongings in the event of removing them from the place.
Officials of the ECG accused the squatters of doing illegal connections.
The ‘squatters’ while pleading with the Assembly to be lenient with them however denied that illegal connection assertion, claiming some of them buy prepaid credits for their electricity meters.
Source: Kofi Yirenkyi
