About 500 Houses to be Demolished For Okyehene’s Palace Expansion

About 500 homes at Kibi around Ofori Panin Fie, palace of Okyehene Amoatia Ofori Panin II, have been earmarked for bulldozing to pave the way for the palace’s expansion project, Mr Daniel Aboagye, Convener of a group called Concerned Citizens of Okyeman, has stated.

According to him, the homes to be affected have been given eviction notices since December last year and given reminders of the intended demolition exercise by the Okyehene’s Secretary.

The demolition is going to affect hundreds of families occupying the affected houses.

Though efforts to get reaction from Ofori Panin Fie has not been successful, a close source at the Palace explained that, the affected persons are “squatters” because the land they occupy was earmarked for the Palace hundreds of years ago and there are legal documents to that effect.

The source said, several attempts to evacuate the occupants over the years have not been successful because they are all “family members”.

However, according to victims, they inherited their homes from their forefathers who lived there hundreds of years ago therefore deemed it unfair and a clear violation of their human rights if they are not adequately compensated.

According to sources, the residents have petitioned the Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, who happens to a native of the area, to intervene, but to no avail.

Mr Aboagye claimed the Okyehene promised to build houses for the residents to be affected but that has not happened.