Security personnel tasked by the Greater Accra Regional Security Council (REGSEC) on Wednesday invaded the Animal Research Institute (ARI) of the Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) to remove illegal structures that had surrounded the site.
Five bulldozers and two excavators were brought in by the security personnel from the Ghanaian Armed Forces, Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Ghana Immigration Service, and a task force from the Adentan Municipal Assembly to raze to the ground all completed and uncompleted buildings, fence walls, building foundations, as well as temporary and makeshift structures. The demolition followed a 48-hour ultimatum given by the Chairman of the Greater Accra REGSEC, Henry Quartey, at a press conference last Monday.
There were no skirmishes throughout the exercise because the encroachers complied and moved out, especially from finished construction, to allow the team to practice destruction.
Others had packed their possessions and were prepared to take them out of the neighborhood, while those who were unable to finish evacuating them before the deadline were seen moving them with tricycles.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister stated that after securing the location, the land would be given to the CSIR-ARI for any use it saw fit.
He additionally directed all householders who reside on ARI-owned property to meet with the REGSEC right now to update their building permits or face being evicted.
On Monday, the Minister, with a team of journalists, security men, and officials from the CSIR, held a press conference to issue the 48-hour ultimatum to encroachers of the CSIR-ARI lands.
The Minister lamented several fruitless efforts by the Institute to protect and recover the lands, including legal suits and fencing activities, stating that out of the over one thousand (1,000) acres of land the CSIR-ARI was set up with, only 200 acres of land remains due to encroachment.
