Another uneasy calm is hanging over the Bombay Wood Market, Akwatia Line, in Kumasi, with two people injured and traumatised.
It is the venue where gunshots were heard over a land dispute between two factions barely three months ago.
The latest was triggered on the mid-morning of Tuesday, July 18, 2023, when people believed to be land guards stormed the disputed land.
Information indicates that they allegedly attempted to supervise development on the land by Alhaji and Madina Construction, a private construction company owned by one Alhaji Aliu Salis.
Numbering about ten, the supposed land guards allegedly attacked and inflicted machete wounds on two male wood sellers, resulting in one sustaining lacerations on the mouth and gum.
The two injured people were admitted at the Manhyia Government Hospital receiving treatment at the time of this report.
Armed police officers from the Ashanti Regional Police Command, who arrived at the scene, could not make any arrests.
The Chronicle gathered that the disputed land, which has been an enclave for wood businesses over the last four decades, belongs to the defunct railway company.
Further information available to this paper has it that, there has been a bone of contention in the last three months, after the Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly authorised Alhaji and Madina Construction Company to go on with a project.
Speaking on a Kumasi-based radio station, one Mohammed Mahmud claimed that Ghana Railways had leased the disputed land to him.
Mahmud added that, the Municipal Assembly and Alhaji Salis tried all means to persuade him to kowtow to their demand to allow the contractor take over the land that had been leased to him (Alhaji).
He argued that, he was asked by the Municipal Assembly to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between himself and Alhaji and Madina Contraction Company, an offer he rejected, and not long after, the contractor started developing the land, a move that compelled him to secure an injunction at the Asokwa District Court.
The law suit, according to him, could not come on, as the right procedure was not followed while filing.
As instructed by the court, the suit was re-filed, following the right procedure being followed, and an injunction was secured and placed on the project, yet the construction company still went on developing the land under the supervision of supposed land guards against the court orders.
This development, Mahmud stated, resulted in the incident that sent the two wood sellers to the hospital.
Responding to the allegations in a telephone conversation with The Chronicle, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Asokore Mampong, Mr. Kennedy Kankam, denied all the claims, saying the Assembly was not responsible for the mayhem that occurred at the Akwatia Line, Bombay Wood Market.
According to him, the Assembly only detailed its taskforce to supervise the project on the said land which belonged to the state, hence, the need to protect it.
Mr. Kankam, who is the former Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso Constituency, argued that what happened at the Wood Market was not a fight, saying: “it was an individual who wanted to forcefully take over a state land, and the state decided to protect it.”
He told this paper that, while the land development was underway, Mohammed Mahmud pleaded with him to be given a portion of it on sale, an appeal that was turned down, because, according to the MCE, he did not have the power to do that, but rather directed him to the appropriate authorities with his request, after various attempts by Mahmud to have the said land sold to him.
The project, according to Mr. Kennedy Kankam, was paramount to him and all and sundry would benefit from it when completed, adding that it contained 400 shops, with lorry stations.
When contacted, the contractor, Alhaji Aliu Salis, directed this reporter to talk to the MCE of Asokore Mampong for further information.
