Accra Loses Her Lone Park

For a long time, Kinbu Gardens as it became known in later years, served as a place where people used to go and relax and as someone remarked, “mind their own business” away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Perhaps it served as an important vent for the stress of city life and rightly so. The garden started losing its importance when portions of it were hired out to some traders and at one time a motor transport company.

The grass, which was in previous years tendered and even watered, was left at the mercy of the rainy season, as an adjoining drainage became a favourite defecating point for night strollers and city vagabonds.

Now the trees have been felled, an indication that the site has been earmarked for something different from what Town and Country Planning Department reserved it for.

The hard mahogany looking trees which predate our country’s independence, perhaps planted in the days of Gordon Guggisberg, will remain a constant reminder about our general insincerity about the environment.

In London, the Kew Garden supplemented by the Wakehurst Place in West Sussex is an important landmark of this commercial hub of the world. In spite of the fact that the location could have been used for an immediate commercial profitable venture, the authorities have been swayed by the long term significance and not only maintained the status quo but continue to budget appropriate public money for its maintenance.

The green grasses on the medians on our ceremonial roads are rarely maintained even after the huge amount of money expended in planting them; only the rainy season will see their lushness.

Perhaps we are a long way away from appreciating nature; the sweet songs of birds and the beautiful colours of tropical flowers do not mean anything to us. No wonder we think about soup pot when we spot creatures of the fauna.

A resident of nearby Tudu told DAILY GUIDE that “it is regrettable that such a thing is happening to the city of Accra. The truth is that there is no public recreational park in the city, yet the authorities have not thought to rehabilitate the Kinbu Park but are rather converting it to something else. It is shameful, and the earlier they give a thought to the unusual thing they are doing the better. Do we really care for the environment?”

When our photographer, Emmanuel Kubi went to the site to take a shot of the site, he was chased away by some security men assigned the task of minding the place. Perhaps the brains behind the project know how environmentalists will frown upon their activities.