The Presidency has said that the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) is responsible for the metropolis’ overall development, human settlements, municipal services, revenue mobilisation and local planning.
The Presidency also maintained that the TMA remains the local planning authority, with responsibility for regulating physical development and issuing development and building permits within its jurisdiction.
The Office of the President in a letter dated 28 August 2026, directed the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and Tema Development Corporation (TDC) Ghana Limited to end their protracted institutional dispute and establish a clear framework for working together. It affirmed the TMA as the highest political and administrative authority within the Tema Metropolis.
TDC, on the other hand, was described as a commercially oriented real estate developer rather than a municipal authority.
The government’s intervention follows a dispute over construction activities at Community One, Sites 3 and 8, where the TMA issued a stop-work order and subsequently demolished portions of structures at the project site.
The Assembly maintained that the development had commenced without the necessary permits. TDC subsequently petitioned the former Ministers for Works, Housing and Water Resources, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, and for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, to intervene.
This followed complaints from residents about the alleged felling of trees, demolition of existing structures, appropriation of playgrounds and green belts, and obstruction of access to homes and businesses.
The TMA argued that TDC’s ownership or management of land did not exempt the company from complying with physical planning and development laws.
TDC, however, maintained that it had an independent statutory mandate to plan, lay out and develop Tema and should not be treated as an ordinary private developer operating entirely under the Assembly’s authority.
The company traced its mandate to 1952, when the then Tema Development Corporation was established to develop the new Tema township and port.
According to TDC, about 63 square miles of land known as the Tema Acquisition Area were compulsorily acquired from the traditional authorities of Tema, Nungua and Kpone and placed under its management through a 125-year lease.
It further argued that although some municipal functions were transferred to the then Tema District Assembly in 1989, TDC retained responsibility for planning, laying out and developing the Tema area, including housing, industrial and commercial projects.
TDC acknowledged the TMA’s role in physical planning, development control and municipal administration but argued that those powers must be exercised alongside its statutory and proprietary interests.
“TDC does not dispute that TMA is a statutory local government authority with responsibilities for physical planning, development control and municipal administration. The issue is whether that mandate can be exercised as though TDC’s separate statutory mandate does not exist,” the company said in an earlier statement.
It also cited a Joint Technical Evaluation Committee previously established between TDC and assemblies within the Tema Acquisition Area as evidence of an existing mechanism for coordinating their overlapping responsibilities.
The confrontation escalated after the TMA’s demolition exercise, prompting TDC Managing Director Courage Makafui Nunekpeku to call for dialogue between the two state institutions.
“We have petitioned the local government minister, and we have also petitioned our sector minister. They will take it up at their level, and I am sure this issue will be resolved amicably,” he said.
As part of efforts to secure a lasting settlement, the President has directed the two ministers to establish an administrative and operational framework defining the roles and working relationship between the TMA and TDC.
The framework is expected to cover development permitting, infrastructure coordination, revenue obligations, information sharing, dispute resolution and regular engagement between the two institutions.
The ministers must convene the TMA and TDC and submit the agreed framework, together with a report on all outstanding matters, to the President within 14 days of the letter.
Both institutions have also been ordered to immediately stop actions, public statements and media engagements that could escalate the dispute.
The President expects full cooperation from the two institutions towards an immediate and lasting resolution.
He warned that any further institutional conflict, public confrontation or refusal to comply with the directive would be viewed seriously.
