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Whatsup News is in possession of a letter written by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited (GTFC), Dr. Agnes Adu-headed to all tenants of the Trade Fair of a scheduled demolition exercise of building at the Trade Fair starting April 1, 2020.
The letter is dated Friday, February 21, 2020. Yet, on Sunday February 23, 2020, Dr. Adu and the GTFC Chairman Dan McKorley “McDan” ordered a detachment of fully armed military men with bulldozers to destroy buildings, particularly belonging to Universal Labels & Packaging Co. Ltd owned by Raymond Archer, the publisher of the now-defunct Enquirer Newspaper.
In the letter Ms. Adu wrote to all tenants of the GTFC: “ Management wishes to inform you of the decision to restrict access to the Trade Fair Centre to ensure public safety due to the ongoing demolition and construction. The centre will be closed to the public, effective April 1st 2020.”
The letter went ahead to advise the tenants to remove their valuables from the Trade Fair by the scheduled date. “You are therefore required to make the necessary arrangements to remove your items from your premises,” it stated.
The letter makes nonsense of the explanation offered by McDan and the GTFC after public anger over the destruction of the US$10 million ultra-modern print factory belonging to Raymond Archer.
Upon “Orders from Above”, a team of heavily armed military and policemen stormed the Trade Fair premises on the Midnight of February 23, 2020, with bulldozers and completely flattened the factory of Universal Labels & Packaging Co. Ltd, including the heavy-duty machines in the factory.
The distraught Chief Executive of the company, Raymond Archer was utterly shocked that the Dr. Agnes Adu and the GTFC could simply flaunt ongoing legal processes and their own official communication to launch the assault on his business-one of the biggest printing firm of that magnitude in Africa owned by a Ghanaian.
At the scene of the destruction, Whatsup News gathered that the order to destroy the factory came from the Jubilee House.
“I got a call from our security that there was a team of armed policemen and set of bulldozers demolishing my factory, so we got here and lo and behold the whole factory with these equipment were under destruction,” Raymond Archer explained.
“We built this factory ten years ago, we’ve installed new equipment, actually, there are even new ones that are currently under installation and these cost us $10 million but we got here and the whole factory with everything inside has been demolished by the government.”
Mr. Archer who is a legal tenant on the premises of the GTFC explained to Whatsup News that he and several tenants at the premises were approached some three years ago about the intention of the GTFC to redevelop their facility, which resulted in a long-drawn legal suit.
“Four years ago, I was here when officials came that they want to redevelop the Trade Fair so I said okay. I’m a legal tenant and my construction was actually supervised by the Trade Fair. I’ve put in $10 million here…so they started doing a whole lot of things here which made me head to court,” he recalled.
Last week Wednesday, the GTFC reportedly went to secure a clandestine order from the court to lift an injunction placed on the redevelopment process by tenants of the GTFC. Raymond Archer who is the founder of the now-defunct Enquirer Newspaper said, when he caught wind of the new court order, he immediately asked his lawyer to file an appeal. But the midnight raid was done in total disregard for the pending case.
“Last Wednesday they went to court to lift an injunction that the court had placed on the Trade Fair, so my lawyer immediately filed an appeal and a stay of execution which was served on them on Wednesday and Thursday. Then this midnight [Sunday] they come here with bulldozers, lock the gates so that no one can see, come here armed to the teeth just to break down the factory that we’ve built with our toil over ten years,” Mr Archer narrated.
The government plans to restructure the trade fair centre into a multi-purpose trade and convention centre. It has invited private investors into the project that is estimated to cost over US$ 1 billion. Four companies are said to have been shortlisted for the project with a first phase covering over 100 acres.
However, the eviction tactics on Raymond Archer’s company has been labelled as politically motivated, given Mr. Archer’s hard-hitting news stories against the then John Kufour-led NPP administration between 2000 and 2008.