The GaDangme Council has called on government not to go ahead with the advertised construction of the hostel for the female head porters, popularly known as ‘Kayayei’, but return the land earmarked for the project to its owners, in line with constitutional provisions on land acquisition and usage by the State.

According to the Council, its immediate concern is that although the Constitution and other laws were used to either vest GaDangme lands in government for its management and for compulsory acquisitions, the injunction that where the land is not used for the purpose for which it was acquired it should be returned to its original owners, is more “honored in its breach than the observance”.

The Council, in a statement signed by its President and former Attorney-General, Ayikoi Otoo, and Registrar, Dr. Emmanuel Lamptey, revealed that whilst vested lands can be devested and the land returned to its owners which was recently demonstrated when parts of Kumasi lands were devested and returned to the Asantehene, same has not happened to many vested lands in Accra.

The Council explained that the land on which the Kaayayei hostel is to be constructed was originally and compulsorily acquired by the Government of Ghana for development into a recreational area, which would have included stadium, restaurants, cafeteria, boating and yatch club, open air cinema, hotel and restaurant, boat hiring, botanical gardens, public swimming pool, birds aviary, public tennis courts, bamboo bush hut, children play grounds, among others.

“Today, with the commencement of the construction of hostels, it is ample testimony that the original purpose has been abandoned. That being the case, the Council is of a strong conviction that in accordance with the Constitution and laws, the land should be returned to the original owners.”
GaDangme Council

The Council further noted that a scheme known as Korle Lagoon Recreational Planning Scheme was developed to capture the initial plans for the land. Additionally, it underscored that another project called the Accra Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP) was approved and funds were sourced from Kuwait, which was aimed at improving the ecology of the Lagoon by eliminating the material inflows that are clogging the river basin through sanitation control.

“The project did not yield the expected dividends due to activities of those then residing at Sodom and Gomorrah. Eventually the land use was changed to a Market when Makola could no longer accommodate traders.”
GaDangme Council

The injustice, the Council stated, involved in what is happening is that the Ga lands are to be used to resettle non-indigenes whilst there are several homeless indigenes living on the streets fighting for space and accommodation at Bukom, James Town, Chorkor and generally along the coast with no room for expansion.

GaDangme Council proposes establishment of vocational schools for Kayayeis

Furthermore, the Council emphasized that with the Government Estates which provide accommodation, the beneficiaries have embarked on massive expansions, thereby rendering it impossible for there to be open spaces for social gathering.

“Therefore, since these indigenes also require land for construction and settlement, we propose that the land in question, be handed over to the Greater-Accra Regional Lands Commission to be held in trust and with the collaboration of the composite Ga, Gbese and Korle Stools and James Town Stool and the GaDangme Council for same to be parceled out to deserving indigenes to use to provide accommodation for themselves.”
GaDangme Council

Meanwhile, the Council has recommended for the Government to focus on establishing vocational and technical training institutions in the northern regions of Ghana to enable the youth, particularly young ladies migrating to the national capital for menial jobs to acquire business skills.

It revealed that would be a better option for stemming the regular flow of teeming youths into the national capital for non-existent jobs, than a proposed construction of a hostel for kayayei in Accra.

The Council urged the government not to go ahead with the advertised construction of the hostel for the head porters but return the land earmarked for the hostel project to its owners, in line with constitutional provisions on land acquisition and usage by the State.

Justifying its stance, it indicated that to construct hostels for head porters is to encourage more unskilled female youth to migrate southwards because accommodation would be assured. The Council however noted that the safest solution to the challenges confronting those who migrate to cities particularly Accra, the capital, is the provision of vocational and technical skills within the Regions where they migrate from.

“When that is done, the migrants having acquired skills, can go into local industries applying their vocational and technical skills to run their small-scale businesses instead of moving South for non-existent jobs and becoming a burden on both central and local governments.”
GaDangme Council