President John Dramani Mahama
As a permanent fix to decongest Accra, the Government will soon begin the design and feasibility study for a new city, President John Dramani Mahama, has said.
He said some of the government offices and agencies would be moved out of Accra to the new city.
“I believe that this city will be located somewhere on the Accra plains from Bundasi, straddling across Greater Accra, Eastern Region and Volta regions. The city will straddle three regions,” President Mahama stated in his remarks at a grand durbar of the Chiefs and People of the Greater Accra Region at Dodowa.
The “Thank You Tour” is to enable the President to express gratitude to the Chiefs and People of the Greater Accra Region and Ghanaians for their massive support for him and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2024 general election.
President Mahama reiterated that the new city would stretch to the banks of the Volta River and there would be a railway link and an expressway that would link the new city to Accra.
Touching on Chieftaincy Disputes, the President said while governments constitutionally could not interfere in the internal matters of traditional institutions, they were deeply concerned by the impact of unresolved disputes on the development of our traditional areas in Greater Accra.
He therefore urged all traditional councils to utilise the structures of the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs to resolve matters of chieftaincy with dignity, true dialogue and mutual respect.
He said the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs stands ready to support and facilitate any resolution mechanisms fairly and neutrally.
President Mahama said one issue that was repeatedly raised during his engagement with communities across the Greater Accra Region was the matter of state lands and ancestral Ga-Dangme lands.
He said these concerns were valid and that he understood the historical injustices and emotional depths tied to the matter.
President Mahama noted that as a result, one of the first directives he issued upon assuming office as President was to direct the Lands Commission to halt all sales and processing of all government lands. He reiterated that the directive was still in force.
The President said following the receipt of the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) Committee report, the Attorney General initiated investigations into the alleged looting of prime government and Ga-Dangme lands that were sold to individuals with political influence, some for as low as GH¢45,000, saying, “meanwhile, these are lands whose values run into millions of cedis.”
President Mahama said it was in that spirit that he announced that following these investigations, they would consider the formation of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the acquisitions, allocation, and use of public lands in Greater Accra.
He said this Commission would work with the chiefs, legal experts, historians, and affected communities to produce a comprehensive report, and this outcome would guide a lasting and just solution to a matter that had lasted for far too long.
