Bawaleshie demolition: 3-month-old baby and mother stranded

After a physically and mentally hard day’s work, one needs to retire to bed and wake up refreshed for the new day and the challenges it presents.

This was not the case for a nursing mother and her three-month-old baby, who were left stranded because their place of abode at Bawaleshie was destroyed by officers of the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo).

As a result, the mother, her husband, and the innocent three-month-old baby had to pass the night in the rubble and at the mercy of the mosquitos and the cold weather.

Speaking to Joy News on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, the nursing mother said, “we were forced to move from our previous place, Kofi Togo yard, where we were residing as squatters to Bawaleshie.

“We have nowhere to sleep. We do not even have money so I would sleep by my baby this night.”

GRIDCo officials on Tuesday, led a task force to demolish illegal structures sited under some of its high tension lines in the Ayawaso West Wuogon municipality.

According to the power distribution company, the site was not suitable for human habitation because the high voltage power lines presented a hazard.

Hundreds of the squatters at Bawaleshie, who said, they were not given notice of the exercise had to rush to salvage their belongings as bulldozers tore down wooden structures under the power lines.

GRIDCo in a statement explained that the demolition exercise was to get rid of encroachers occupying its right of way.

The activities of the encroachers, the power distribution company believes “posed a threat to its transmission towers and a danger to the lives of encroachers.”

“Under the Transmission Line Protection Regulations, 1967 (LI 542) as amended by Regulation No. LI 1737 of 2004, it is an offence for persons or institutions to conduct any form of activity in relation to the lands around the location of power transmission lines and towers in Ghana,” portions of the statement from GRIDCo stressed.