Chop-Chop: Pratt bemoans looting of State lands?

"...He said there was the need for a national consensus on fundamental issues in the country, suggesting the enactment of a legislation that would forbid governments from abandoning projects initiated by their predecessors..." (National goal perverted by politics, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, Daily Graphic report, Ghanaweb, 19 May 13).

In a PeaceFM-sourced article on Ghanaweb 19th May, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. of the Insight Newspaper expressed grave concern for "the wanton grabbing of State lands by some politicians and public officials." Apparently, there is an on-going feud between officials at the Ghana Ministry of Transport (MIT) and the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) with respect to the tract of land at the "Kantamanto Railway Yard," site of the public market that was recently destroyed by a massive fire. Come to find out, the MIT wants possession of the land for a new railway terminal, whilst the AMA and the Mayor of Accra, Mr. Alfred Vanderpuiye, want the land for a "new modern market."

That was before we found the Ministry of Trade in the company of Stanbic Bank executives who were making the rounds paying up for loan losses from those fires, fires that many, including President Mahama himself, suspect were set by arsonists. Apparently, the Ministry of Trade Ministry is on the side of the AMA. Yes, the Ministry of Trade support the "new modern market."

Ordinarily, in a well governed polity, the elementary question to ask is who owns title to the plot of land? Is it the national government or the Accra Metropolitan Assembly?

Even so, given all the talk about re-development, there are important issues to consider beyond ownership and control. The issues include extent the proposed plans are rational, economically-rigorous, and supportive of the local/regional/national development agenda.

Consider that recently, the Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG) warned the AMA that several of their facilities, including public markets are dangerous and public nuisance either because (1) the electrical wires are naked copper wires, having all been installed without insulation, or (2) AMA clients and customers occupying many of those facilities over-task the electrical circuits and/or illegally make connections resulting serious fire hazards all over Accra. We would have like to think that the AMA would address these in a comprehensive manner, rather jump into another "new modern market" frenzy. After all, decreeing that all trade and commerce in Accra public markets must now end at 6:00PM because of fire hazards is not a permanent, fair, or reasonable solution.

Regarding the Ministry of Transport, we will remind the reader that in our 5th May article on Ghanaweb, we questioned the thought process at bottom of the Ministry's actions regarding a new airport for Accra. In the essay, we faulted the logic behind first acquiring 8000 acres of land, then making provisions for an additional 8,000 acres, before a "feasibility study" has even been considered, let alone started by Ms. Dzifa Ativor, the Minister.

Readers will recall that our brief analysis of land requirements showed that approx. 6,000-acre public-interest land would be sufficient. But only if we assumed that the airport is needed in the first place either because (1) the current international airport cannot be upgraded to solve current and near-term aircraft parking terminal issues identified by Ms. Ativor, or (2) no other sites outside Accra would solve the "Ghana International Airport" predicament.

The reader ought to begin seeing what appears to be a pattern, a "hound" for land for the purpose of "Terminals" by the Transport Ministry and its officials on the one hand, and on the other hand, attempts be the AMA to grab public land even as they operate seemingly without a development plans that properly address basic infrastructure requirements of Accra and its communities in a logical and coherent fashion.

We believe that Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. and the Insight Newspaper have a point here!

Can the Ministry of Transport show that they had a Rail Terminal Transportation Improvement Plan to re-develop the former public market prior the fire? If so, shouldn't they share the details with the AMA and the Ghanaian public?

With respect to the AMA, what is their development priority? Is the Kantamanto land in the AMA development plan? To what extent do those plans involve improving and building upon basic infrastructure such as water lines, sewer lines, storm water systems, public parks, clean/sanitary public toilets, pedestrian paths and over-passes, etc.? To what extent do those plan help clean up and rebuild the numerous slums in the wide area under the jurisdiction of the AMA?

If not, why not?

Further, assuming the AMA acquires the land, who will ultimately own the land, who will fund the development of the "new modern market." More important, who are the projected beneficiaries. Who are the projected losers?

All that said, we are somewhat at a loss why a "modern market" proposed for the public cannot also co-exist with a public "Railway Terminal". After all, one of the most important functions of public facilities such as transportation terminals is their ability to contribute greatly to the economic development of the immediate area, the environs, and the local/regional economy.

A railway terminal with a public market offers that promise, but it must be properly scaled and executed. Professionally planned and operated, these projects should in the end help improve the quality of life of the local people by spurring additional economic activities even as they facilitate the movement of people many of whose interest in the "Terminal" may be purely transactional, that is, getting from point A to point B. There is no arguing the economic development empirical data on that front, really!

Or, are we to infer that the "deciders" have other plans for the land in question, and are all about chop-chop for themselves and their friends?

In conclusion, we are saying that it is high-noon for forward-looking plans for the peoples' development projects. It is time to require a hierarchy of citizen-approved development plans for all of Ghana's communities (villages, towns, cities). Further, it is time to require that a new government (and its leaders) that fail to continue a local plan, or fail to timely continue or complete a project found "under execution" when they take over the helms of the government, be brought to account for causing economic and financial loss to the People of Ghana.

So it goes, Ghana!

©Prof Lungu is Ghana-centered, Ghana-Proud. Prof Lungu is currently based in Washington DC, USA. Prof Lungu is brought to you by www.GhanaHero.com. Join us: (Email: professor.lungu at yahoo.com). (Washington DC, USA, 24th May, 2013).