Some residents of Kumawu in the Ashanti Region, are angry with a Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry for allegedly forcibly evicting them from their land.

They question Robert Ahomka-Lindsay’s decision to site a poultry farm in an area designated as residential only and without proper land assessment.

Besides, the initial owners of the land say they were never served notice on the project and are yet to be compensated.

“We weren’t told of anything, we’ve been farming here for a long time.

"We’ve been chasing them for compensation but to no avail,” laments one of the aggrieved residents, Atta Kwadwo.

They believe the poultry farm can pose danger to public health.

“We aren’t against development. Even if it’s a site for government projects there should be a proper assessment. Whatever scale it’s built it’s going to have an effect on people; the waste [and] the smell. How are you going to deal with them, what if there’s outbreak of a disease,” Henry Kwabena Acheampong queries.

Two roads lead to the site- a power line and the main demarcated road which is yet to be developed.

Residents are unhappy the designated road has been abandoned.

The retaining wall which was constructed over 30 years ago to check the flow of surface rainwater has also been destroyed, the causing of erosion on the main Kumawu-Bodomasi road thereby making that stretch unsafe for users. 

“The land is too steep, that is why we constructed a strip road and a retaining wall to slow erosion so if you have a farm you wouldn’t be affected.

“Now look at the piles at the bottom of the road,” a resident said in frustration.

Several calls to the Chief Executive of the Sekyere Kumawu District Assembly, are yet to yield any result.