Big U-turn: Government moves to regularize properties at Sakumono Ramsar site

The government of Ghana has made a major U-turn on its decision to pull down all structures erected on the Sakumono Ramsar site. By this, all property owners on the designated portion of land are to be regularized. According to a report by citinewsroom.com, the initially planned demolishing of all the structures on the site has since been halted, with the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, meeting with the affected persons. Outcomes of the stakeholder meeting on Sunday, November 6, 2022, indicated that the government is taking steps to regularize the structures at the Ramsar site. “I want to say here and now that not a single building will be demolished. “We will go through some processes of discussions, and we will have this kind of meeting again in about three weeks’ time by which time we would have had a clear road map,” he said. It will be recalled that weeks ago, the Regional Security Council in the Greater Accra Region went ahead with its planned demolishing exercise at the site, bringing down a number of buildings. The exercise was being undertaken as a result of encroachment on the state land by private owners. It was also believed that the encroachment had, over the years, led to flooding in areas around the site such as Ashaiman, Tema and other adjoining communities. AE/FNOQ