COMMERCIAL transport operators at Obra Spot, Circle, yesterday resisted a private developer from evicting them from the popular public transport park.
The ‘land owners’ who came there with earth moving equipment to pull down the structures on the land to pave way for the construction of shops were met with the force of the transport operators.
The operation by the developer, the Ghanaian Times gathered, started at about 2am Thursday when they, in the company of uniformed military personnel and ‘machomen,’ came in to order those who had parked their ‘trotros’ at the station to move out.
Joined by hawkers and other business owners whose livelihoods depended on the existence of the lorry station, the transport operators said they had the backing of city authorities to operate from the place where they have been since 1985.
Clad in red, the transport operators claimed former Black Stars Captain, Asamoah Gyan, was behind schemes to take the land from them.
A Lands Commission document in the possession of the unbending transport operators, seen by the Ghanaian Times, indicated that the state acquired the land under certificate of title dated November 12, 1942.
The land was to serve as the project site during the construction of the ring road through Circle to Korle Bu.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, the Obra Spot secretary of the Ghana Private Road and Transports Union (GPRTU), Mensah Okpoti-Kodia, said they would resist any attempt to send them out of job.
“We are not going to allow anybody to push us out of here. If they claim this land belongs to them, they should come with the requisite documents to make that claim”.
“We contacted the Korley Klotey Municipal Assembly and they are not aware of any owner of the land apart from the state since 1942.
“They told us they had not given the land out to any private developer,” he said.
According to him, the senior brother of Asamoah Gyan, Barffour Gyan, came in with the team “confirming allegations that his brother is behind this attempt to annex this piece of land; with what authority, we don’t know.”
He reiterated that “We are not leaving this park, not today, nor tomorrow.”
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
