Residents of the Buduburam Refugees Camp in the Gomoa East District of the Central region yesterday vehemently resisted attempts by government to evict them as the deadline given them to vacate the area elapsed.
The Gomoa East District Assembly had given residents up to September 30, 2021, to leave the Camp and pave the way for its redevelopment.
The decision, according to District Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, Mr. Solomon Darko-Quarm, was “a Presidential one” warning that persons who remained there after the grace period, did so at their peril.
“The Gomoa East District Security Council (DISEC), at its second meeting on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, at Gomoa Potsin, has resolved and further directs that individuals and groups living in the defunct Liberia Camp at Buduburam should vacate the area latest Thursday, September 30, 2021, to pave way for the demolition of the area,” an eviction notice dated August 3, 2021, issued by the Assembly, said.
When the Ghanaian Times visited the Camp at around 8:00am yesterday, residents massed up in a defensive mood, ranted and raved at authorities for taking the decision to eject them.
Unanimously, the people who identified themselves as ‘Ghanaians’ and deserved the right to basic life necessities including shelter, attacked government of depriving them their entitlement should it carry out its threat.
“We have become Ghanaians now, we have given birth, schooled here, raised families here and work here all these years, where do they expect us to go and how do we start life all over again if we move out of here,” a mechanic who gave his name as Solomon, said.
He argued that tagging all residents in the Camp as criminals was unfair saying, “most of us here do decent jobs for a living, are very peaceful and have often even helped the police to identify some people they suspected of engaging in illicit acts.
What the security agencies should do is to identify the robbers and bad nuts and deal with them instead of putting us all as one and ejecting that, that is unfair,” he stated.
A mother of three who had remained in the Camp since its decommissioning in 2010 indicated that she had opted to stay back during the repatration of
attempt to opposed the move by government, ranting and raining curses on authorities for taking such a decision.
raze down their ‘permanent’ homes as the final day for
.
Having become accustomed to the Camp,although it no longer serves the purpose for which it was established, the residents whohad packed bag and baggage in compliance with the directiveunanimously ranted while patrolling through the site to register their displeasure over the decision to render them ‘homeless’.
When the Ghanaian Times got to the Camp at around 8:00am yesterday, the people had massed up in opposition to the move, chanting and raining curses on authorities for taking such a decision.
Although the supposed security taskforce detailed to undertake the demolition was nowhere in sight, residents seemed certain that the directive will come on and pleaded with authorities to take a second look the directive.
who have lived in the camp over several years, building families and engaged in commerce could not fathom why government would want to render them homeless after spending their entire life on the soil.
Although many had packed bag and baggages in compliance with the directive, residents unanimously ranted while patrolling through the Camp top register their displeasure over the decision to render them ‘homeless’.
The Gomoa East District Assembly in the Central Region has given residents of the Buduburam Refugees Camp up to September 30, 2021, to vacate the place as it gives full effect to its resolve to demolish the structures in the area.
That, it said, is to pave the way for the redevelopment of the area. The decision is a presidential decision.“The decision is a presidential one and I cannot change the plan. It is a decision from the Presidency,”
“The Gomoa East District Security Council (DISEC), at its second meeting on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, at Gomoa Potsin, has resolved and further directs that individuals and groups living in the defunct Liberia Camp at Buduburam should vacate the area latest Thursday, September 30, 2021, to pave way for the demolition of the area,” an eviction notice dated August 3, 2021, issued by the assembly, said.
The camp, which was decommissioned as a refugee base by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June 2010, has become a settlement and now bears the infamous credential as a hideout for social deviants, including alleged robbery gangs.
Mr. Darko-Quarm had told the Daily Graphic that the demolition of the camp was in response to a request by the Gomoa Fetteh chiefs over the increasing criminal acts in the Gomoa area, with the camp being turned into an abode for suspected criminals.
“The Buduburam Camp has become an albatross around the neck of the nation as it has become a den for many suspected criminals engaged in many criminal activities across the country,” he had earlier noted.
The camp is sited in the Gomoa East District and shares a boundary with Kasoa.
It was set up by the UNHCR in 1990 to serve as a safe abode for more than 12,000 refugees from Liberia who fled the country during the two Liberian civil wars (1989–1996 and 1999–2003).
It also housed refugees from Sierra Leone who escaped from their country’s civil war between 1991 and 2002.
Although the camp was decommissioned following the return of peace to the two countries, most of the refugees resettled in the neighbourhood.
On May 18, 2021, the chiefs of Gomoa Fetteh, at a news conference, expressed concern about the increasing crime rate at the Buduburam Camp and issued a three-month ultimatum to the government to pull down all makeshift structures — said to be the abode of suspected criminals — in the area
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH