Tema people return to ancestral home

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• G. K. Berko 9 years ago

  This is a classic case of implementing the Power of Eminent Domain by the Government. This right of Government is a very important one that most Countries utilize to construct vital projects from which the Society at large be ...
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  This is a classic case of implementing the Power of Eminent Domain by the Government. This right of Government is a very important one that most Countries utilize to construct vital projects from which the Society at large benefits.
  
  It is most prominent in the USA, for instance, and has stood the test of will and reason. By its very nature, it invokes an immediate repulsion from owners of the property that may be taken over by the Government. That is a natural, reasonable expectation. However, it is the ultimate purpose and envisaged benefits from the project for which the Government is confiscating the property from its private Owners that determine the appropriateness of such exercise of Governmental rights.
  
  Eminent Domain almost always engenders lengthy litigations. However, in most cases, the Government always wins. The best practice of this Constitutional requirement in any Country is when the Government concedes and awards reasonable compensation to the owners of the Property confiscated.
  
  To that end, we must ask ourselves if the confiscation of the property in old Tema Manhean as part of the larger agendum of building the Tema Township for the purpose of supporting the Harbor that would be a pillar in our Economic advancement was appropriate or not.
  
  We must all note that the Tema Manhean People were not abandoned by the Government to seek replacement for their siezed property themselves. They had a new aggregate space and Homes allocated to them by the Government. The People were not scattered all over the place for lack of a block, or contiguous unit that they could continue to share collectively as a town. In fact, most of the People materially became better off for that adjustment as they had more modern and durable, healthier homes to live in. That is aside from whatever general Economic benefits the larger Industrial Tema brought to them.
  
  The question of ancestral connection broken by the physical dislocation or relocation should be best left for the Sociologists and Traditionalists to resolve. However, as a casual observer, I dare contribute that the spiritual connection so involved would still exist. It exists in the hearts of the people even if the physical connection is removed.
  
  I would also add that in the case of Burial Grounds, for instance, advanced Western Countries would do their best to isolate the Grounds as some 'sacred Island' within the larger area physically adopted by the State, or manage to cut it out of the siezed property for the exclusive use by the owners of the property.
  
  In the West, there is not as much fright and horror and spiritism associated with Cemetries as in most developing Nations, especially Africa. So, Cemetries, both old, discontinued ones and current ones, could be right in the middle of a City or Town or new Settlements. In Ghana, most folks attach certain fear of encroachment to the Cemetries that is linked to the sanctity of the Grounds. Similarly, any item or edifice of Worship like in the Tema Manhean case holds similar characteristic among the folks whose ancestral root resides there.
  
  I am glad that the people have been allowed back to pay their homage to the ancestors at the relevant spot. And I suggest that if it is possible, and has not already been done, an attractive shrine of some sort could be developed for periodic access by the owners of that feature, allowing the Tradition to commemorate the purpose of that sacred spot, without necessarily impeding any normal secular activities that need to proceed around the area.
  
  Such could even be developed to fit into a modern tourist attraction menu for the City of Tema, with any commercial benefit accrued therefrom shared in some way with the owners of the shrine.
  
  That would be a modern mutually beneficial way to permanently keep the link between the ancestors and the living.
  
  Long Live Ghana!!!

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