The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has earmarked over 30 illegal structures along the Korle Gonno Beach stretching from the Oceanic Beach Resort to chorkor on the old Winneba road in the Ablekuma for demolition.
The earmarked structures are also allegedly rented out to criminals who terrorize and rape unsuspecting visitors and residents along the old Winneba road at night.
The structures according to the AMA, are also believed to be used as brothels by sex workers.
According to the Assembly’s Head of Public Affairs, Gilbert Nii Ankrah, the decision to demolish the structures followed a petition from the Chief of Korle Gonno, Nii Tackie Owuowuo III, to the Korle District Police Station and copied to the Assembly.
Mr. Nii Ankrah explained that the illegal structures had created a state of fear for residents in the Ablekuma community as they have continuously been terrorized by criminals who use the structures as their hideouts.
In March this year, some staff of the Eastern Regional branch of the Ghana Tourism Authority were chased away by alleged sex workers of a brothel at Kotokoli Zongo in the Suhum Municipality after they tried to gain access to the structure.
The officers from the Authority, who had gone to the makeshift structure in a bid to ascertain whether the facility was being used as a brothel as alleged before closing it down, took to their heels.
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According to sources close to the facility, the brothel operates 24 hours daily and is reportedly a hotspot for some Senior High School boys who skip classes and pay as little as GHC 5.00 to patronize the services of the sex workers.
The alleged prostitutes, numbering six, hurled insults at the officials from the Authority and shrieked at them when they tried to enter the structure.
A combined force of armed police officers from the Central Regional Police Headquarters and Cape Coast Metro Assembly Task-force recently demolished some hideouts at Ntsen, a suburb of Cape Coast.
The police say the structures are dens for criminals from Cape Coast and others who have migrated from Mankessim, Ashiaman and other parts of the country.
The operation, which was led by the Deputy Central Regional Commander of Police, DCOP Enoch Adu-Twum Bediako, was to destroy the hideouts along the beach, close to the Cape Coast Castle, where the said criminals often stayed.
Speaking to journalists during the demolition exercise, DCOP Enoch Adu-Twum Bediako explained that, “the place (Ntsen) is very notorious for criminal activities; here is the place for all types of narcotic drugs, this is the place where they do the
trading.â€
Head of Public Affairs of AMA, Gilbert Nii Ankrah
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