Relocating capital needs critical assessment - Amamoo-Otchere

Talk that the capital of Ghana should be relocated from Accra is a thorny issue, which requires careful analysis, Professor Emmanuel Amamoo-Otchere, a geographer has said.

There has been increased discussion lately about the suitability of Accra as the country’s capital, after incessant rains led to another deluge on Thursday June 9, 2016, which left most suburbs submerged and inaccessible, prompting the military and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to come to the rescue of people.

This came at about the same time last year, June 3, 2015, when close to 160 people died in a similar inundation in the city, most of them dying as a result of an explosion at a GOIL fuel station they had gone to, to seek shelter from the rain. Water had seeped into the station’s underground tanks, displacing the fuel, which ignited after it got into contact with a spark.

But according to the University of Ghana lecturer, making the move will require finding answers to some critical questions.

He said given the alterations made to the landscape and drainage of Accra, which has left it flooding recently, “is it justifiable relocating from Accra after destroying the topography of the city? Secondly, where are we headed to? Not until we know where we are moving to, we are arguing in abstract. We must know, so we do a comparative analysis – geographic, economic, cultural, everything. If we have no idea where we are relocating to, then I think that exercise is going to be a little bit lame.”

The former Executive Director of the Centre for Geographical Information Service at the University of Ghana continued that queries would also have to be resolved over the “natural challenges” prevalent at whichever place is chosen to be the new capital, or how they can be overcome if the new capital presents the same topographical headaches.

He also wondered whether the behaviour of citizens towards the environment would change upon relocation.

The professor said he was compelled to ask because problems faced by Nigeria with Lagos as capital, necessitating the switch to Abuja, are similar to those being raised in Ghana. He said when that country’s capital was moved to Abuja, finally, the development of that city had over the last 30 years brought about the same problem it was facing previously, such as squatter settlements in places designed for organised, formal, mass residential areas as the government could not raise the necessary capital for such projects and individuals filled in with informal sector behaviour – building randomly.

“So what guarantees that we will not transport all these characters to the new city we want to build?” he asked.