Displaced shop owners in the Tarkwa Wood Village have appealed to President John Dramani Mahama over what they describe as the “selective demolition” of their shops.
They say the action has cost them thousands of cedis, pushing their businesses to the brink of collapse.
The demolition, carried out by unknown engineers allegedly acting on behalf of the Tarkwa municipal Assembly, has left the traders completely shattered.
For the affected shop owners, the scene was nothing short of a nightmare. Monica Nkrumah, her voice trembling and eyes glistening with tears, recounted the trauma of that fateful morning.
She said they woke up to find everything they had built swept away, their shops reduced to rubble. There was no warning, no notice. Just the deafening sound of destruction.
This is despite the fact that the land was given to them by the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly four years earlier, after they were relocated from the old Wood Village.
They are questioning the motives behind the demolition, alleging that their shops were deliberately singled out and razed, while other businesses in the vicinity were left untouched.
“We were initially in Old Wood Village when the Assembly relocated us here. To the best of my knowledge, this land belongs to the government.
“If the government intended to relocate us again, we should have been duly informed but nothing of that sort happened. Instead, we returned the next morning only to witness this illegal demolition.
“Look at my machine. Unfortunately, it rained that day, and our equipment was damaged. My plywood has also been destroyed, and what little remains is unsellable. This is a huge blow to us, amounting to several thousand cedis in losses,” she stated.
Despite reporting the incident to the police, the shop owners say they have been met with silence and inaction.
The traders have called on the government to come to their aid.
“We came to work on Monday, only to return the next morning and witness this. It has been confirmed by the MCE’s Public Relations Office that they carried out the demolition exercise. According to our laws, such demolitions are not supposed to single out individuals.
“As you can see, there is a shop before me that was left untouched, yet they demolished mine, skipped one after mine, and pulled down another.
“We are therefore calling on the President and higher authorities to launch an investigation into this matter. They have destroyed all my machines,” lamented another trader.
In an effort to verify the traders’ claims, the news team contacted the Assembly, but officials declined to speak to us.
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