President Kufuor's House At Risk?

Government's plan to demolish structures and evict settlers close to the country's rail lines unfairly targets the poor and violates fundamental human rights, according to an injunction filed at the High Court by a legal advocacy group.

The injunction notes that a number of high-profile properties are also close to rail lines but have not been threatened with evictions, resulting in discrimination.

A recent survey by a group of settlers in Agbogbloshie in Accra, one of the areas facing eviction, claims that President Kufuor's residence, the Shangri-La Hotel, the Polo Club and the Airport West Hotel, among others all rest close to rail lines, though none have been served with eviction notices.

"According to the Ghanaian constitution and international human rights law, affected people must be consulted before an eviction takes place and be given adequate notice," said Dominic Ayine, a lawyer with the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), which has filed the injunction.

"This has not yet been done," he said. "Our goal is to restrain the government from forcibly evicting these people in a way that will negatively impact their human rights."

The government intends to reactivate the country's rail network, starting first with the eastern and western lines and later the central line. The scheduled increase in train traffic will make accidents more likely and has pushed the issue of informal settlements onto the Ministry of Ports, Harbours and Railways' agenda.

The ministry announced in July that it would evict unauthorized settlers in August within 100 feet of rail lines throughout the country. In an interview, the acting Chief Director of the Ministry, Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, stood by that pronouncement but said that "sufficient" notice of an eviction would be given and that it would be "fully announced". He also said that the decision had been made to evict only those settlers within 50 feet of rail lines while those within 50 to 150 feet would be "penalized".

The ministry claims jurisdiction over all land within 150 feet of rail lines throughout the country. According to Mr Jawula, the planned evictions are for safety reasons only. "The recent rail accident in Japan was a wake-up call for us," he said. "Even I countries with advanced rail networks, disasters happen. Our objective is to save life and to ensure that if there is a rail accident, people are not in its way." He also said that because of the high number of people moving to urban areas, there has to be a rail network in operation. "This is for the good of the nation," he said. "No one takes any pride in destroying people's property."