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| DCE for Sagnarigu |
Some residents of Kanvili-Tunayili including the over
300 members of the Signs and Wonders Charismatic Church have been displaced by
what they termed an unannounced demolition exercise carried out by the
Sagnarigu District Assembly. The Angry residents are accusing the Assembly of
being unfair and unjust in executing the sudden demolition exercise.
The Sagnarigu District Assembly demolished a number of
individual properties along the main road stretching from King David Junction
through Kanvili to Tunayili to pave way for the construction of the road.
That road has been in very deplorable state for a very
long time, and become highly unmotorable during raining seasons.
The Residents are apparently not much perturbed about
the construction or tarring of the road since it is also in their own interest,
but they are rather furious about the Assembly’s inability to serve them with
prior notice.
Badly hit by the “unannounced” demolition was main
Temple of the Sings and Wonders Charismatic Church leaving the over 300 members
without place of worship.
In an interview with Savannahnews, the
Founder and General Overseer of Signs and Wonders Charismatic Church, Rev.
Nicholas Batu Supiir could not hide his extreme disappointment about the
unusual manner the demolition exercise was carried out by the Sagnarigu
District Assembly.
According to him, he was away to Volta Region to visit
one of his 42 branches when his Associate Pastor called him that the District Assembly
had come to demolish all structures along the road including the Church
Auditorium.
“When I asked whether the church leadership was
notified by the Assembly or given prior notice they said- no, but they had come
with bulldozers and that they had already started from King David side coming
towards our church. So I told him that he should call the Assembly man to find
out why the sudden demolition but he called to tell me that the Assembly man
had also travelled. So I decided to cut my trip short and in fact when I came,
the whole church building was raised down”.
Rev. Nicholas Batu Supiir complained that, several
pleas for the driver to allow them pick their instruments, office equipments,
remove the zinc/roofing sheets and the electricity metre was fiercely prevented
by the bulldozer driver.
One of the young Pastors who braved the storm to enter
the Church to pick the instruments and also remove the electricity metre was
eventually injured in the process when one of the blocks fell on the right side
of his head and the shoulder.
The Reverend Minister insisted that the plot on which
the Church auditorium was built had all the necessary documentations and
approvals from the Lands Commission and the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly
(before the Sagnarigu Assembly was carved out it). He further insisted that he
could confirm anywhere that his church was not built on the road.
“Even if I built the church in the road and the
Assembly did not see me until I finished, at least it is human for the Assembly
to write officially to me and if I refuse then they can send me to court. But
all these processes were not followed, which makes the demolition exercise very
illegal and violation of our human rights”.
Rev. Nicholas Batu Supiir said that his focus now was
how to put a temporary structure to house the over 300 members before he lost
them, and then decided on what action to take against the Assembly.
Responding to the concerns raised by the residents and
most especially the Reverend Minister, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for
Sagnarigu, Alhassan Mohammed Sorogudoo passionately sympathized with the
affected residents and rendered unqualified apology to them all.
However, he said that the construction of the road was
long overdue and inevitable for the assembly to carry out.
The DCE admitted that the Assembly actually could not
give enough public notice before the exercise, but explained there was no way
the Assembly could have allowed the interest of some few individuals to over
ride that of the entire people in the community.
Mr. Sorogudoo said that the Assembly had been
overburdened with calls from the community demanding the immediate tarring of
the deplorable road, hence the urgency his office attached to the project when
funds were made available for it.
He said that from past experiences, the people in the
district had also proven to be unnecessary difficult and uncompromising in most
of the times when even enough prior notices had been served to them to pave way
for projects to be executed.
Mr. Sorogudoo emphatically stated that the Assembly
and for that matter government could not compensate any of the affected persons
because of lack of funds, even though he was saddened by the inconveniences
they might have been going through as a result of the demolition.
The Road Construction from King David to Tunayili is
necessary to link the area to the urban district of Tamale.
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