ILLEGAL OCCUPANTS OF LOW COST HOUSES GIVEN ULTIMATUM

The Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council (VRCC), has given a one-month ultimatum to tenants illegally occupying low cost houses and junior staff’s quarters in the Ho municipality, to quit or risk ejection.
The Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, who gave the ultimatum, said it was the policy of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, not to sell those houses outright to the tenants.
He cautioned all those illegally occupying the said houses, originally allocated to parents or relations who had retired, resigned or were dead, to quit or be forced out by the law.
Mr Amenowode gave the ultimatum at the inauguration of the reconstituted Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council in Ho on Wednesday.
The 41-member council, which is under the chairmanship of the Volta Regional Minister, was sworn in by Dr Bernard Kwasi Glover, a member of the Council of State.
Performing the inaugural ceremony, the Regional Minister said the council did not have its full complement, since district chief executives were yet to be appointed for the Ketu North and Biakoye districts.
He said efforts were being made to resolve the Biakoye issue as promptly as possible while the confirmation of the district chief executive for Ketu North had been slated for October 8, 2009.
He said while the central government was making efforts to construct houses to accommodate staff, municipal and district assemblies should consider putting up residential and office accommodation for their staff.
The minister reminded them that the VRCC was essentially an administrative and co-ordinating body designed to monitor, co-ordinate and evaluate the performance of the district assemblies in the region.
He said the council also had a responsibility for monitoring the use of all monies internally generated or allocated to the district assemblies by any such agencies of the central government.
He hinted of a planned monitoring exercise in the region and advised the municipal and district assemblies to put their houses in order for that important assignment.
Mr Amenowode urged the members to remember that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a manifesto and the mandate for which it would be judged and as such M/DCEs should be advised to be tactful with issues that had political undertones.