The Northern Regional Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, has backed residents of Old Fadama who are opposed to moves to relocate them, following the clash between Konkombas and Dagombas at the Agbogbloshie Yam Market on Tuesday.
Bugri Naabu, like the community leaders of Old Fadama, believes the police service should investigate the tensions and find a lasting solution to it instead of relocating the residents.
Renewed clashes there has taken two lives, and left several others injured.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Apeatu, who rekindled the relocation debate, explained that, it will help in policing the area, and guarantee some stability, following the clashes which is said to have deep-seated ethnic undertones.
“Where should they be relocated to? They are here, in the market, selling their food products to the people of Ghana. They cannot relocate,” he stated firmly during a press briefing at Old Fadama after a visit to the area.
“They [the police] should speed up by arresting those people and go into the case to see the true picture of the case. But why relocate? No relocation will be done,” Bugri Naabu added.
He further assured residents of Old Fadama of government’s support to ensure lasting peace in the area, and indicated government’s resolve to bring to book all persons behind the clashes.
Gov’t looking at mass relocation
Meanwhile, government has said it will soon begin the mass relocation of traders and residents at Old Fadama to decongest the area, which is considered to be Ghana’s largest slum.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Ishmael Ashitey, has said the Accra Metropolitan Assembly has been charged to lead a process to relocate some markets in the area.
The markets will be moved to Adjen Kotoku on the outskirts of Accra, per arrangements made under the Kufuor administration for their relocation.
The AMA’s immediate task will be to assess the feasibility of a relocation before initiating moves to actually move them.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana