All Hands On Deck - Clearing Up and Delivery
Today has been a hectic one. I arrived on site to find an escalator filling up a truck with the rubble generated from the demolition of the main building and boys quarters. The sight of this came to me as a massive relief. The escalator, I was told had tried to do some work on the site itself, but the ground was not firm enough to support the weight of the machine. So the builder had to get lots of workers to transport the remaining rubble across the road so tat this could be loaded onto the truck. Everything had to be done quickly as the cost of hiring the escalator was tagged at GHC200 per hour. Anyway things are looking better now. I will not be getting complaints from any of my neighbours.
Two lots of building blocks have been delivered and stacked across the road. The location for offloading these blocks does not look safe as my main concern was that they can be stolen. However the builder assured me that no one was going to steal them.
I suppose he is right as they are very much exposed and anyone trying to move them would be questioned immediately.
The steel bender - Mensah - was also onsite. He spent the best part of today straightening the 16mm iron rods and cutting them into three equal parts. These will be used to construct the pillars for the building structure. Currently, two sets of iron rods have been purchased. 16mm and 12mm. Mensah told me that some more people will be joining him tomorrow to construct the frames for the pillars and also sort out the rest of the iron rods.
I try to be on site as much as possible so that if there are any questions I need to ask, I can do that. I feel it gives me a better understanding of the process and reasons why things are being done they way they are.
This afternoon I had to dash to Barclays Bank Osu branch on Oxford Street. When I got back to site, the builder informed me that he had a visit from "Land Guard" people. They are also referred to as "Asafo". I am not entirely familiar with their activities, but a quick poking around on the internet gave me the below results. You can draw your own conclusions.
“Land guards in Accra appear invincible. Since their bloody services began, they have ruled Accra lands, especially the new settlements, with iron fists, remaining largely impervious to the efforts of the police.
Many have fallen to their swords, with others losing money invested in the property which brought them face to face with the red-eyed hoodlums.
They are ruthless and would press the trigger at the least provocation, with little or no regard for the laws of the land. Some of them have done time in prison and therefore not scared of returning there.
”
Carrying on, the builder said the Land Guards demanded some money and a bottle of Schnapps from him, as it is something demanded from people erecting buildings. The builder confirmed that this was a common practice and that he has had to give in to their demands several times when working on other clients properties. Apparently if you fail to give in to their demands, the next course of action by them is to harass you and confiscate any tools on site. So beware, if you are putting ups a building, expect to get a visit from these Land Guards.