A former Minister for the Modernization of Accra Jake Obetsebi Lamptey has blamed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for failing to properly relocate residents of Old Fadama to Adjen Kotoku.
According to Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, his Ministry had drawn a comprehensive relocation plan but this was torpedoed by the then opposition NDC.
Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey told Citi News that the relocation was halted because the NDC turned the chiefs and people against the government.
“We managed to get some startup money from Belgium and then we started the work on the infrastructure. But unfortunately, our opposition, the NDC went to the people and start bad mouthing us and saying that we are intending to bring all the armed robbers to Adjen Kotoku and dump them there and that Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and others were just using the opportunity to make money for themselves,” he added
Jake Obetsebi Lamptey further argued that the NDC, “raised a whole range of development scare. They scared the people and the landowners started withdrawing from the idea.”
He said due to that, the NPP government could not proceed with the planned project “in a way that we had envisaged.”
He noted that when the NDC took over the administration of the country in 2008, “they couldn’t continue the development and everything was messed up. And here they are seven years later, they probably wake up and realized that they need to do something.”
Thousands of Old Fadama residents were rendered homeless after the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) demolished their properties to create room for the dredging of the Korle Lagoon.
Jake Obetsebi Lamptey further cautioned against relocation the residents of Old Fadama to Adjen Kotoku in its current state because according to him, it would create another slum.
“You destroyed their homes, what are you going to do with those people whose belongings you have destroyed? …children, mothers and expecting ones are sleeping out in the rain because their shelters have been wrecked. Are you going to now build a tent city? And if you are going to build a tent city have you got the provisions in place to move it from beyond the tent city into something better?”
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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Umaru Sanda/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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