Accra Race Course squatters ejected (Spread)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah (Thursday, July 24, 2008)
ABOUT 100 policemen drawn from the Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service yesterday supervised a demolition exercise at the Accra Race Course to pave the way for the construction of a 5-Star hotel on the site.
The exercise was carried out without any opposition, contrarily to earlier threats from some of the squatters occupying the site to confront anybody who tries to force them out.
When the Daily Graphic team got to the site around 9.30 a.m., the police had cordoned off the area to prevent outsiders who had no business at the site from entering, as two bulldozers pulled down the structures.
The squatters, made up of women, children and mostly young men, looked dejected as they stood by their personal belongings which were scattered on the ground.
There were also a number of horses roaming about on the site when the demolition of the stables took place.
Present were the executives and members of the Horse Owners Association.
Apart from one piece of wrong information that a horse had been run over by a bulldozer, which made the crowd surge to the spot, with the police quickly at their heels, the only negative scenes witnessed were the insults and curses poured on the leadership of the Accra Turf Club, whom the squatters accused of having given them a raw deal.
In an interview, the Operations Commander of the Accra Police Region, Chief Superintendent Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the police were there because of discussions between the police authorities and the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) which called for policemen to supervise the exercise to protect lives and property.
He said the police usually performed such duties when an exercise involved the movement of people and their property to avoid unscrupulous people who might take advantage and cause trouble.
Almost all the people the Daily Graphic spoke to at the scene indicated that they had not been told of the demolition exercise, for which reason they had not arranged for new settlements. They, therefore, threatened to continue to stay there till the authorities forced them out.
An old Malian, Baba Bukari, who said he had lived on the land since he came from Mali on July 15, 1957, said he was waiting for the owner of the horses he took care of to convey him and the horses to a safe place.
He confirmed that he heard people say they should move to a new site but since he did not own the horses nor knew where they were supposed to move, he could not do so.
A middle-aged woman, Madam Emelia Dei, told the Daily Graphic that she, together with her family, which included her husband and 10 children, had lived on the site for 15 years. She was the only person who wailed continually as the exercise went on.
For his part, the Vice-Chairman of the Horse Owners Association, Alhaji Muntari Ali, said they failed to move the horses because they had assurances from the government to continue to keep the horses there till a new place had been prepared for them, adding that the new place was about eight per cent complete.
But information gathered at the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations indicated that the squatters had been given up to July 20, 2008 to vacate the site for the commencement of the hotel project.
That ultimatum followed previous attempts to get the to leave the property to pave the way for the new lease holder to develop the land.
In an interview, the Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie, stressed that the squatters had consistently defied orders from the Office of the President, the Accra Turf Club which ran the race course and other agencies to vacate the place.
“The irony of the matter is that those presently inhabiting the premises illegally are not even the jockeys,” Mrs Cofie said.
She explained that the behaviour of the squatters had made matters difficult for all involved and insisted that the final date had to be adhered to so that construction would start.
She pointed out that by an agreement between the government and the investors, a new race course had been built at Ashalley Botwe which consisted of about 100 stables, adding that the jockeys and their horses had already left but the squatters claimed they had nowhere to go with their horses.
The minister said it was important to note that the ministry was working hard to ensure that projects of such nature which were of immense benefit to the tourism industry were completed in good time and, therefore, it would not allow a few individuals to hold the entire nation to ransom.
Mrs Cofie said the ministry had been humane for not forcibly ejecting those illegal squatters till now but “now their actions and refusal to quit are costing the state dearly”.
She explained that the kind of entrenched attitude adopted by the squatters did not augur well for Ghana and its investment promotion drive because many investors were discouraged by stories of that nature.
Information available indicates that the old race course grounds, situated behind the Accra International Conference Centre, was run by the Accra Turf Club. As part of arrangements to relocate the race course and put the property to new use, the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotels Group acquired the land and intends to put up a 5-Star hotel and holiday resort there.
The investors agreed to pay for the full cost of a new race course at Ashalley Botwe, which has since been completed with about 100 stables.