Anxiety at Buduburam as eviction notice to pave way for demolition expires today

As some residents of Buduburam (Liberia camp) wait with bated breath for the impending demolition exercise to be carried out most of them have raised concerns about the exercise that will soon deprive them of the place they have called their home for a very long time.

One of such persons who caught the eye of myactiveonline.com is a Liberian Refugee known as Emmanuel Nimley who fled the Liberian war and has been in Ghana since 1990. Mr Nimley said though the Gomoa Fetteh district assembly is hell-bent on carrying out the demolition exercise, he does not agree with the reasons for its necessity and also unfortunately does not have anywhere to go to should the place be demolished.

He complained that since his sojourn in Ghana for many years as a refugee, he feels they have not been tangible efforts to properly integrate them by the Ghana Refugee Board and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). And there has also not been any efforts to repatriate them back to their land of origin.

Mr Nimley added that the Liberians in the area are not in any way fighting with their hosts, the Gomoa Fetteh chiefs over any land and there won’t ever be any such instances from them[Liberians].

Other residents some of whom are Ghanaians knowing very well that the eviction notice given them expires today, September 30, 2021, had no option than to cry out to the government that they have nowhere to turn to or go should the planned exercise be carried out.

Daavi Doe who is a widow with six children revealed that upon receipt of the eviction notice she tried going to rent a room but the rate turned out to be very expensive. She said not all residents in that particular are criminals as being perceived most of the time and that any attempt to rid off crime in the area by evicting them all is not the most viable option.

Per the earlier report filed by myactiveonline.com, the District Chief Executive for Gomoa East Assembly, Mr Solomon Darko Quarml in collaboration with the Chiefs of the Gomoa Fetteh community with extensive consultations have agreed for the exercise to be carried out with resident given up till today, September 30, to vacate. There however no signs of the demolishing ongoing when our reporter visited the area.

The camp in question became home to Liberian refugees after it was opened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1990.  It was initially home to some 12,000 refugees.

It also houses refugees from Sierra Leone who fled their country’s civil war between 1991 and 2002.

By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh

Author