Residents of Old Fadama in Accra have commended Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, for his support in the demolishing of some structures along the Korle Lagoon to pave way for the planting of trees to serve as a buffer.
“Dialogue is very important in community development. In a show of good faith, we followed the directions of the Mayor and used our own resources to demolish structures 20 meters from the Lagoon on Saturday,” Mr Thomas Yao Asare, the Chairman of the Old Fadama informal settlements, told the Ghana News Agency.
Old Fadama is the largest informal settlement in Accra and home to more than 100,000 people.
Mr Asare said the exercise was to protect the Korle Lagoon Restoration Project and to green the area as part of the “Greening Ghana Agenda.”
He said people from various tribes settled in the area and there was the need to work together to ensure a sustained livelihood, alleviate poverty and improve their standards of living.
Mr Alhassan Baba Fuseini, a community leader, said: “No Old Fadama resident is an antithesis to development. What we have done shows that dialogue always goes a long way.”
“By working together, we can do so much to alleviate poverty and bring development to the tens of thousands of people from across Ghana who live in the Old Fadama settlement.”
Abdulai Yakubu, a Community Organiser, commended the Government through the Mayor for entering into dialogue with the residents.
“Bringing down parts of Old Fadama on our own shows good faith, and what can be achieved when there is an open line of communication between the urban poor and the Government of Ghana. We will never resist social intervention,” he said.
He expressed appreciation to a local Non-Governmental Organisation; the People’s Dialogue, for supporting the demolition exercise and called on other NGOs to support the urban poor.
