Chief Executive Officer of Universal Label and Packaging Company, Raymond Archer, whose factories were demolished by the Trade Fair Company Limited, is calling out the Trade Fair Company over the destruction.
A number of structures belonging to different companies were pulled down on Monday in a dawn raid following an eviction notice by the Ghana Trade Fair Company to enable it to carry out a redevelopment project.
But the victims have since been criticizing the Trade Fair Company for not serving them an early notice to evacuate their wares and machinery from their places of business before the demolition—a matter that has since turned political.
Mr Archer, who has operated his business at the Trade Fair Centre for close to a decade says he has invested a lot of money into the business and is calling the actions of the Trade Fair company “unfair”.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Raymond Archer alleged that the Trade Fair Company is trying to get rid of him and other entrepreneurs at the Trade Fair so that they will bring in other businesses.
“If the land belongs to them [Trade Fair Company], then why didn’t they keep it? Why did they rent it? Because Trade Fair always needs money. When there was no light at Trade Fair, I brought a transformer to bring light there. That was their responsibility. They didn’t even have the money to do it. We brought light to the Trade Fair to bring life back. So if you say that Trade Fair owns the land, the fact that you own the land doesn’t mean you can leave it and sack the tenants after they have invested millions of dollars. We have invested almost US$10 million there. You want to throw us out like we are squatters so that you will bring another business.”
Owners of buildings demolished at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra had earlier criticized authorities for the exercise, accusing them of failing to give them ample notice.
The demolition comes after an injunction that was placed on the exercise was lifted by an Accra High Court on Wednesday, February 12, 2020.
The affected tenants had secured a court order to prevent the Trade Fair Company from continuing with the exercise which started in May last year.
Shipping Officer for West Africa Construction and Commodities Limited, which is one of the affected companies, Barbara Vanderpuye said the demolition came as a surprise to them as they had begun processes to appeal the court ruling.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Trade Fair Company has denied allegations made against them by the victims which accused the company of not giving ample notice prior to the demolition exercise.
In a statement, the company insisted that it “took all necessary steps” to inform the businesses of a redevelopment project it intends to undertake.
The company also said, “no business or businesses have ever been targeted for demolition because of their political or other affiliations.”
