Central Regional Coordinating Council Summons Fetteh Elders  Gomoa East DCE For Unlawful Demolition Exercise At Budumburam

THE Gomoa East District Chief Executive (DCE) in the Central Region, Mr. Solomon Darko Quarm and some self acclaimed elders of the Gomoa Fetteh have incurred the wrath of Central Regional Coordinating Council for doing unthinkable which has created, fear, insecurity, tension and confusion in Gomoa Budumburam.

The aggrieved top personalities of Central Regional Coordinating Council are boiling 
with anger at the DCE because they were vehemently protesting against the current decision taken by Mr Quarm to use his executive position to allow some illegitimate  elders of Gomoa Fetteh to carry out unlawful and illegal demolition exercise which made about 700 Liberians and Ghanaians at Gomoa Budumburam to been rendered homeless.

They indicated that the DCE used his executive position to support those self seeking elders of Gomoa Fetteh with the supervision by a combined team of military and police personnel to carry out this unlawful and illegal exercise.

This action of the DCE and elders of the Gomoa Fetteh had angered the Central Regional Coordinating Council, informing the decision of the Council to summon the DCE and the elders of the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional to appear before the Council.

The DCE and elders of the Gomoa Fetteh, according to the information available to Soireenews.com were invited by the Central Regional Coordinating Council on Wednesday February 29, 2024 to substantial the reasons of carrying unlawful exercise without court order.

Tears welled up in the eyes of people living in Budumburam in the Gomoa East Municipality of the Central Region upon seeing their building structures being demolished by unaccredited elders of the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council on February 27, 2024.

Buduburam is a refugee camp located 44 kilometers (27 mi) west of Accra, Ghana. It is along the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.

The heartbreaking exercise, has made about 700 Liberians and Ghanaians at Gomoa Budumburam to been rendered homeless as a result of a demolition exercise.

The Soireenews.com gathered that the  exercise was aimed at creating space for the development of a market for traders who have been affected by the ongoing expansion of the Kasoa-Winneba Highway.

But the rightfully accredited and principal elders of the Abor Ewusi Royal family of Gomoa Fetteh who are allodial owners of the said land in question at Gomoa Budumburam strongly kicked against the demolition exercise.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday February 28, 2024 to set the record straight about the matter, the newly installed Principal Head of Abor Ewusi Royal family of Gomoa Fetteh, Nana Ewusi questioned the credibility of those self seeking elders of the Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council who had ordered for the exercise to be done.

"I am now the current Principal Head of Abor Ewusi Royal family of Gomoa Fetteh and that what l am saying is that this exercise being carried in the supervision by a combined team of military and police personnel was unlawful and illegal. Because l personally or the principal elders of the family have received no notice from those unaccredited elders prior to demolition of the building structures in the area.

"So we, the rightfully and allodial owners of the said land of where the building structures were demolished are going to use all legal means to ensure that this land is not being used to create space for the development of a market for traders who have been affected by the ongoing expansion of the Kasoa-Winneba Highway because the elders of the area who ordered for the exercise did unthinkable and unlawful things," Nana Nana Ewusi vowed.

He stated that the rightful and accredited elders of the Abor Awusi family were not aware of the demolition exercise which was carried to pull down building structures on the said land.

The Gomoa Fetteh Traditional Council last week threatened to demolish portions of Zone E of the Budumburam camp to make way for the development of a market for traders who have been affected by the ongoing expansion works on the Kasoa-Winneba Highway.

The Traditional Authority laments that the activities of these market women along the stretch are impeding the work of contractors working on the expansion of the highway.

The traditional council carried through with the threat today by demolishing several structures at the Liberia Camp.

Meanwhile, some members of the community who have been affected by the exercise say they were taken by surprise as they blame the traditional council for extending the exercise beyond the zones that were marked earlier.

According to them, about 600 Liberian nationals no longer have places to lay their heads as a result of the exercise.

“We’ve been displaced now and our homes have been destroyed. We don’t have anywhere to go, and we want the government to do something about the exercise,” Jamal George, a displaced resident, told this paper.

Leadership of the Liberian Community accused the Ghanaian government of neglecting them.

They believe the demolition exercise is a clandestine move by the government and the traditional council to kick them out of the settlement.

For them, the demolition exercise is an affront to the UN’s convention on refugee settlements.

Several persons, most especially the aged who are weak and fragile, have become more vulnerable as there will be no place for them to lay their heads.

They are thus seeking shelter at some basic schools in the Buduburam community, arguing that those schools were established for the purpose of the existence of the refugee camp.

Thousands of residents at Gomoa Budumbra in the Central Region have been rendered homeless after a combined team of military and police personnel supervised a demolition exercise in the area.

The residents, who had built their mashift homes in the area, lamented they received no warning prior to demolition of their building structures.

Some visibly worried residents said they have no place to sleep.

“We were given no warning notice, they have demolished all our houses, we are stranded, we don’t have any place to go,”the residents lamented.