Three officers of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) sustained injuries, and multiple Assembly vehicles were vandalised on Wednesday, July 8, after residents violently resisted a demolition exercise behind the COCOBOD building at Adum, near the Asafo Overpass.
The confrontation erupted when a KMA taskforce moved to remove makeshift structures along waterways, a routine enforcement action the Assembly says is critical for desilting major drains ahead of the peak rainy season to prevent flooding.
According to officials, the exercise was met with fierce opposition from occupants who pelted stones and damaged equipment, including an excavator and a pick-up truck that was destroyed.
Kumasi Mayor Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi condemned the attack but vowed that the Assembly would not be intimidated.
“We intend to clear them and then desilt the place. Some of our vehicles have been vandalised. We have lost one pick-up; an excavator was vandalised, and about three or four of our officers were injured,” the Mayor stated.
“There’s no way I will sit down for illegality to prevail. We will repair the damaged equipment and put it back to work.”
Mayor Boadi added that the injured officers would receive medical attention after police completed documentation of the incident.
However, affected residents pushed back, insisting they had legally acquired the land and accusing the Assembly of carrying out the demolition without prior warning.
“We paid money before they gave us the land. Nobody was living here when we moved; the place was only occupied by thieves. We were not given prior notice to vacate,” one resident told journalists.
