The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Ocloo, has defended the ongoing demolition of unauthorized buildings on the Sakumo Ramsar site, insisting that affected residents were given ample time to vacate.
The minister stated that “two months is enough for them to move whatever properties they have or whatever they have in their buildings. It should be off so that we can demolish the site.”
The demolitions, targeting illegal structures on protected wetland areas in Sakumono, Klagon, and Tema, were initially halted but resumed this week following the recent floods in the Tema West Municipality.
The floods, which left properties damaged, have been linked to unlawful encroachment on watercourses.
According to Linda Ocloo, the Ministry had been clear and consistent with its message to encroachers.
“We told them to channel any grievances to the Metropolitan Chief Executive. We gave them two months because they are already aware.
“We will still come back and make sure that the remaining structures will be down,” she stressed.
She also noted that most of the structures targeted are newly built and unoccupied.
“I’m not sure there are people living in the buildings; these are all new buildings, and these are all new sites… so this shouldn’t be a problem for us at all,” she added during an interview with Citi News during the renewed exercise on Monday, July 22.
