Let Us Rescue Achimota School

–A NATIONAL ASSET. STATEMENT DELIVERED ON THE FLOOR OF PARLIAMENT BY HON. PROF. MIKE OQUAYE – MP FOR DOME-KWABENYA & 2ND DEPUTY SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT

Madam Speaker, one most disturbing news in Ghana today, is what some Ghanaians are doing to a vital national heritage – Achimota School. Following the publication on page three of the Daily Graphic (Friday 29 January, 2010), I visited the school out of a national concern. I met with the Head and Assistant Head I. May I point it out early that I am not an old Achimotan but a proud Presecan. But if any serious Ghanaian sits unconcerned when Achimota is bleeding, then God indeed help us all.

Achimota School was the baby of the great Governor Guggisberg. At a time when cocoa had revolutionarised the Gold Coast economy, we were twice blessed to have a Governor whose pre-occupation was development. In those days, most Governors were liberal arts graduates. The difference was that Guggisberg was a surveyor by training. He personally surveyed and mapped out Korle Bu Hospital Land and Achimota School lands. Madam Speaker, the school land was bought for Four Thousand British Pounds (£4,000) from the Owoo family. I saw a photo copy of that colonial receipt dated 29th June 1922 when I visited the School, prior to writing this Statement.

Madam Speaker, the white man labored to leave a magnificent monument. Should we destroy it? No school is as endowed as Achimota. Mfantsipim, Adisadel, Presec, Wesley Girls, Aburi, Holy Child etc, started as the efforts of the Church. Achimota was put up once and for all as a monumental government school. From its bowels, the University of Ghana was born. Its Golf Course, Hospital, Zoo, Swimming Pool Complex etc make it unique. If this generation will not work to add to it, let us not spoil it.

We have learnt that the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) has asked for the closure of the School as the sewerage system has collapsed. The problem has been caused by encroachers who are building with satanic speed on that part of the School called “the Folly” where the entire sewerage system had seen channeled since the time of Guggisberg. People are building unlawfully on the main channels causing the system to collapse. Any serious Ghanaian who cares to visit will see broken main lines, gushing of human excreta and liquid waste plus foul stench which engulf the hemisphere. The School poultry farm as collapsed as a result.

In the late 1980’s, the Board of the School made the tragic mistake of attempting to sell portion of the School land to certain individuals. The Board had no legal right to sell Achimota School lands which are by law vested in the Head of State of Ghana. People were asked to come for refund of their monies when this illegal act became public. Some stood on the payments and without documents of ownership and approved plans, began to build with indecent haste. The Owoo family, also stepped in and started selling the land they had already sold. Other land contractors and macho people waded in. The resultant chaos is too indecent to recount.

Later, another set of encroachers expanded the assault to “The Folly” area on the Southern side. The encroachment on the school land has no respect for the usage. Hence a disco was built which the school had to demolish. The pilfering, drug usage, drunkenness, refuse dumping and sand winning activities which have put the lives of young school children at risk, should be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians. These acts of indiscipline are the cause of the fires and road accidents all over our dear nation. They should stop.

The white man looked at Harrow and Eton and gave us Achimota. Don’t we want good things in this nation? Governor Guggisberg had a reason for acquiring the vast land. Why do we destroy someone’s vision? Why don’t we add to it by building a model IT institute for Ghanaian JHS and SHS children etc? Madam Speaker, the development in “the Folly” is an act of lawlessness. The kind of lawlessness that will destroy this country if we do not discipline ourselves. This is principally because no one has got a registered document on any land there. Achimota School lands are by law vested in the Head of State of Ghana. No President since independence has divested an inch of the lands. Indeed, Article 257 (i) of the 1992 Constitution has vested all Public Lands (including Achimota School Lands) in the President of the Republic. Any purported attempt by any person, body or authority other than the President of Ghana, to alienate Achimota School Lands is bogus, void, illegal and of no effect. We call on the President to save Achimota School Lands.

No building permit – not one – has been approved by the authorities. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly confirmed this in 2005 (see The Heritage of March 11, 2005). The Owoo Family which many people rely on as grantors have come out clearly that they have not divested any lands in “The Folly” (Daily Graphic August 27, 2009).

The question is: should we sit back as anyone who is bold enough, enters the area and commences building day and night?

I re-iterate: the school lands are vested in the President of Ghana. I call on him to save Achimota. All the houses there built on school land should be compulsorily acquired and given to the school. Government should take all the buildings by law. If a bona fide purchaser for value without notice is identified by a Commission which will be set up, compensation should be paid by law. Parliament is the representative body of the people. Let us get a Committee to look into this and act accordingly.

Meanwhile, the security agencies should all be employed to save Achimota School, a national heritage. The school associated with Nkrumah, Busia, Akufo Addo, Rawlings, Atta Mills, Jawara of Gambia, Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a national heritage; a tourist attraction; it is worthy of preservation, not destruction.

Parliament must act now as the representative body of all Ghanaians.