Bundase camp seized from military

Credible information reaching The Chronicle indicates that the Bundase Military Camp in the Greater Accra Region, which has over the years been used to train military personnel, is going to be taken away from the military.

According to a source at the Ministry of Transport, the land, which has been acquired by the government to build a modern international airport, encompasses the military training camp.

Investigations revealed that the original place allocated for the proposed new airport has been encroached upon by developers, compelling the takeover of the military camp.

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, confirmed in an interview with The Chronicle that the major part of the Bundase Camp lands had now become part of the new airport land.

A traditional ruler from Great Ningo, Nene Atiapa, has, however, kicked against the decision, saying that since they had been staying together with the military for a long time, he did not see why the security agency should be kicked out from the area.

According to him, the Great Ningo Traditional Council, which is hosting the proposed new international airport site initially approved of 8,000 acres of land, but later agreed to a request for 16,000 acres from the government.

Nene Atiapa told The Chronicle that contrary to what was agreed upon, the government was now asking for 60,000 acres of land, and this was the reason the Bundase Camp lands have been roped in.

A military source, which also spoke to The Chronicle, confirmed the story and pleaded with the Lands Commission to start looking for land to relocate the military camp.

According to the military source, in searching for a new place, a number of factors would have to be considered, such as enough land space and security to cater for its exercises, some of which involve the firing of weapons.

The source also promised that if the military finally vacates the land, there will be series of exercises to locate unexploded ordnance, so as not to endanger future users of the vast land.

The source noted that monkeys from the nearby Shai Forest are sometimes killed when they go near some of these ordnances, hence their desire to thoroughly search and remove all these weapons.

The Lands Commission has been tight-lipped over the issue, but a source told this reporter that the relocation, though essential, would be difficult, especially weighing the options available to the military, and the fact that there was no available land in the area that would meet the conditions spelt out by the defence authority.

The Bundase Training Camp is primarily used for pre-operation training for troops embarking on peacekeeping duties outside the country, like the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Another area of prime concern to the military is the current location of the Base Ammunition Depot (BAD), situated in the heart of sprawling communities such as Gbetsile, Sackey, Bediako, Sebrepor, Kakasunanka numbers one and two, Mataheko, and Community 25 among others, near the Michel Camp of the First Battalion of Infantry.

Some of these communities are about 50 metres close to sensitive military installations. With the occurrence of two disasters in the not too distant past in Nigeria and Mozambique respectively, where similar ammunition depots close to towns exploded, causing havoc and loss of human lives, the military are worried of similar consequences if the problem is not addressed.

A highly placed military authority at Burma Camp, when reached for moves to equally relocate the BAD, said it was an expensive project, and that some time ago, when the issue came up for discussion at a higher level, the concern raised again was the availability of land.

The source continued that the only option now is probably to construct high embankments around the entire ammunition depot to block low trajectory missiles accidentally going off.

Some of the ordnance, this reporter gathered, have been there for decades, even though reliable hints have shown that the old ones are normally destroyed at Bundase during fire power demonstration exercises.