Some property owners at the Sakumor Ramsar Site are resisting an ongoing demolition exercise by the government to reclaim the encroached portions of the land.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, in collaboration with the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and National Security, visited the site Wednesday morning, March 12, 2025, during the demolition to enforce environmental protection regulations.
The demolition is part of a broader initiative to safeguard the Ramsar site, which is an ecologically sensitive area. However, the residents have resisted the move kicking against the operation.
Some developers who were on the site working at the time the team visited engaged in a scuffle with them.
But according to the Regional Minister, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, they will carry out with the exercise to make the land available for its intended purpose.
“Those that have been encroached fine, but we have to protect the inner core of those left,” she stated.
She insisted that they are not going to adopt any “human face” approach to relent on the exercise but ensure the right thing is done to protect the area.
Madam Ocloo said “if you want to meet me, I’m going to form a team that you’ll have to meet. We are not going to compromise because we’ve noticed that a lot of people compromised and that’s why we’ve gotten where we are so we are not going to look at any human face. We have to do the job and protect this country.”
She further indicated that the affected residents have already been advised against developing the area but refused to heed to the caution, the reason their fence walls have to be pulled down to ensure sanity.
“They have been here to caution the people severally but yet still, if they were to take the advice, I wouldn’t think we would be here to demolish any fresh fence wall,” she clarified.
Greater Accra Regional Security Council to demolish illegal structures on Sakumo Ramsar Site
