Tension is brewing between owners of stores at the Kumasi Central Mosque (KCM) and Assets Committee of the KCM over the demolition of the stores.
About 86 stores of a storey building within the confines of the Mosque at Akwatialine, in Kumasi, are to be demolished and reconstructed by the KCM.
While the store owners are demanding compensation for their property, the Assets Committee says it has nothing to pay.
The Assets committee has, therefore, given December 31, 2022 to the owners to vacate the premises for the exercise to begin.
Spokesman for the store owners, Muntali Mohammed, told the Ghanaian Times here, that they used their own money to build the stores, saying that the place was nothing to write home about.
According to Mr Mohammed, all they needed was for the KCM to compensate them because they might not be given the opportunity to have their stores back after the reconstruction.
“We are not moving an inch, they should pay back our money used to construct the stores… we cannot let our monies to go waste…we are prepared for any consequences”, he intoned.
Chairman of the KCM, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdul Rahman, when contacted said that there would be no compensation for anyone.
He admitted that the owners of the stores were asked to use their own monies for the construction after which they should occupy for 10 years to defray their costs and then hand over to the authorities of the Mosque.
Alhaji Rahman explained, that some of the real owners had sold their stores and others had rented them out, adding that for about 25 years, they were paying nothing.
He said, the Mosque was undergoing refurbishment in line with modern architectural trend around the globe which has called for a facelift of the stores within the confines of the Mosque to meet the standard of the newly modernised edifice.
The Committee Chairman said the store owners had been asked to put in application if interested, for consideration.
FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI
