The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ayawaso Central, Rudolf Collingwood Williams, has revealed a troubling encounter between officials from the assembly and congregation of a local church when they attempted a closure of the collapse of a three-story building.
According to the MCE, members of a church that had been using the structurally compromised facility for services responded with verbal abuse and “curses” when security personnel attempted to bar them from the premises.
The MCE told Accra-based Citi FM that the attempt at stopping the church formed part of a broader exercise of cautioning resident of Accra New Town against the use of the building.
“The works department came to do assessment here and we realized that since this is an unfinished structure, there are certain things we need to do, either to re-enforce it or to totally collapse it…so it was unjust an unfortunate incident that it happened this way,” he said.
According to the MCE, these warnings were unheeded to by the residents who continued to hold a church service in the building until it collapsed.
“We actually didn’t know that they were running a church service there until one of the residents alerted me that this is what is happening two weeks ago. So quickly I sent one of my security to come and take them off the structure [but] you know that normal blacks nature, they started raining insults, curse on them and I said whether curses or insults, they shouldn’t operate here…,” he added.
Addressing concerns about another storey building on the compound that is said to be nearing collapse, the MCE said that engineers are assessing the structure to determine it should be demolished or re-enforced.
“We’ve given to a contractor to work on it but some of these building have stood the test of time so we’ve given to a contractor to work on it…myself and the Works Department, I said they should discuss, if we need to pull it down, they should let me know. But if we can work on it for it to be maintained, then we will do so…,”
The uncompleted 3-storey classroom block which collapsed on the evening of Sunday, March 29, 2026 trapped several worshippers of a nearby church who had congregated at the location for evening worship.
A total of 23 persons including three minors were trapped in the debris. 20 were rescued and sent to the hospital while three lost their lives.
The three confirmed fatalities, comprised two females and one male.
The cause of the collapse remains unknown, with officials expected to launch investigations to determine what led to the incident.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
