Two file suit against Asokore Mampong assembly, MCE

Two residents of Aboabo in the Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly (AMMA) in the Ashanti Region  have filed a suit at the Kumasi Circuit Court to restrain the assembly and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Alhaji Nurudeen Hamidan, from building a permanent structure at a site reserved for a road at Aboabo.

Zakari Hamidu and Salifu Abdul Karim, the plaintiffs, claim that the structure pose a threat to livelihoods in the area.

The two believed that the location of the court building was within the area reserved for a road and could not be used for  a permanent structure.

Again, they said in the near future there could be an expansion of the highway and that should a permanent structure be put up within this reserved area, that structure could be demolished, a situation they term as a “financial drain” in terms of compensation.

However, a copy of the reply to the letter dated July 29, 2014 written to the Ashanti Regional Office of the Town and Country Planning Department by lawyers for the plaintiffs, Mathias Gollo and Co, made available to the Daily Graphic reads that: “There is no lane between plot numbers 8 and 9 block A Aboabo”.

It further reads that: “Highways are large roads and are meant for roads and not for building purposes”.

On the other hand, the MCE, Alhaji Hamidan, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the assembly was committed to doing all things possible to bring development to the area and that the project was a step in the right direction.

He said the court building, when completed, would help fight criminal activities in the municipality and expressed the belief that some architects, out of mischief might have tried all possible means to ensure that the building was not put up. But he emphasised that “the court building will be constructed and the assembly is ever ready to meet the plaintiffs in court”.

As to whether the building of the court is at the right place or not, he said the assembly had the original site plan and aside from that  it had its own engineers and a Statutory Planning Committee responsible for building permits and related issues.