NPP Chairman cries foul

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday July 15, 2010
The Bawku Central Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Malik Imoro Salifu says an attempt to demolish his house at Teshie, a suburb of Accra is politically motivated.

He has therefore vowed to use all legitimate means to ‘fight’ and ‘protect’ his one-storey building located at Teshie Adogonno Malik, an area named after he built the house.

Recounting how the incident happened, Alhaji Malik told DAILY GUIDE in an interview in Accra on Tuesday that last Friday, July 9, 2010 at about 5:30 am he was at home when a relative came upstairs to inform him that some policemen had surrounded the house and were looking for the owner of the house.

“I quickly got down to meet them and I saw about 20 police officers most of whom were heavily armed and they had come in four different vehicles.”

“When I greeted them and enquired about their presence in my house, their leader said they were sent from the Greater Accra Regional Police Command and that a court had given them an order to evict me from my house, lock it up and come later to demolish the building.”

“The leader then told me I was even lucky that they did not come to my house with a bulldozer which they would have used to demolish the building there and then, but I told him that it will be over my dead body.”

He said he led them into the house and when they entered “one of the policemen upon seeing a picture I had taken with former President Kufuor in my hall remarked these are the people who have stolen all our money.”

“I expected the policeman to exhibit professionalism because I completed this house, which has seven bedrooms and two halls in 1995, after toiling in London to make my money. I certainly do not steal from the state. I am very hard-working and I reject any attempt to paint me as a criminal.”

Alhaji Malik noted that when the police personnel could not take anything from his house they asked him to send his Nissan Pathfinder with registration GN 207 Y to the High Court in Accra under security escort.

He said at the court’s premises, the bailiff told him that another family was claiming ownership of the land on which the house was built and had moved a motion to get an order to possess the land.

He said, “The police created a scene and made things appear as if I was a common criminal. The whole action is politically motivated because I acquired the land legitimately and my house is not on a waterway or obstructing any development project.”

“Somebody recently told me that those claiming ownership of the land had said that my government was no longer in power so they will demolish my house and show me where power lies. I brought electricity and telephone facilities to the area and made the place what it is today. I will never sit down to be cheated. I will fight till I have my peace,” he added.