The Gomoa East District Chief Executive Officer (DCE), Solomon Quarm, says they will not relent on their decision to demolish the Buduburam camp.
According to him, they expect the residents to vacate willingly to pave way for the redevelopment of the area.
The Assembly on August 3 served an eviction notice which expires today, Thursday, September 30, 2021, but has been met with fierce resistance from some residents.
Some angry residents, clad in red, on Wednesday besieged the Gomoa Budumburam Police Station to demand a halt to the demolition exercise during which four people were arrested.
Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Quarm cautioned there will be no extension beyond the date communicate earlier neither will the planned demolition be suspended.
“The camp was a dormitory for refugees but it has now outlived its usefulness. We gave out the land and now we want our land back for other activities and that shouldn’t be too much to ask. They can move to any part of Ghana to continue their engagement,” he said.
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A Sierra Leonean, who also spoke on the show, said the demolition was shameful especially when President Nana Akufo-Addo is the Chairman of ECOWAS and no provisions have been made for the evictees.
But, reacting to the comments, Mr Quarm said any resident who decides to stay or resist the exercise does so at his/her own risk.
The camp was opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1990 to serve as a home to more than 12,000 refugees from Liberia who fled their country during the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996) and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003).
The UNHCR, that provided the settlement’s residents with individual aid and relief, began pulling out of the camp in April 2007, slowly withdrawing all UNHCR-administered services.
Also resident in the camp were nationals of Sierra Leone who escaped from their civil war fought between 1991 and 2002.