Today, February 27, 2024, the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council carried out a demolition project that left about 600 Ghanaians and Liberians without a place to live.
According to the council, the goal of the exercise is to make room for the growth of a market for vendors impacted by the Kasoa-Winneba Highway’s ongoing expansion.
In an attempt to create a market for traders impacted by the ongoing construction on the Kasoa-Winneba Highway, the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council last week threatened to demolish parts of Zone E of the Budumburam camp.
The Traditional Authority regrets that the contractors working on the highway’s expansion are being hindered in their work by the actions of these market women along the route.
Today, the traditional council carried out the threat by razing a number of buildings at the Liberia Camp.
Some community members who have been impacted by the exercise, however, claim they were unprepared and blame the traditional council for carrying out the exercise outside of the previously designated zones.
About 600 Liberian nationals, they claim, no longer have a place to sleep as a result of the exercise.
“Our homes were destroyed, and we are currently without a place to live. A displaced resident named Jamal George told Citi News, “We want the government to do something about the exercise because we don’t have anywhere to go.”
The Liberian community’s leadership charged that the Ghanaian government was ignoring them.
They think that the government and the traditional council are using the demolition exercise as a covert means to evict them from the settlement.
According to them, the demolition project violates the UN Convention on Refugee Settlements.
Many people have become more vulnerable as there won’t be anywhere for them to sleep, especially the elderly, who are frail and weak.
They claim that the basic schools in the Buduburam community were founded specifically to accommodate the refugee camp, which is why they are seeking sanctuary there.
The issue has not yet received a response from the Gomoa East District Assembly.
