Agbogbloshie land encroachment - Government to take definite action

The government has started the process for a definite decision on how to deal with encroachment activities on the 80-acre land that was reclaimed at the scrapyard and onion market at Agbogbloshie in the Greater Accra Region. 

A report has been presented to the Office of the President on the issue, and discussions are ongoing on the way forward.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said: "Last week, there was a stakeholder’s meeting between the President, John Dramani Mahama, and the leadership of Agbogbloshie. They are still in consultation, and whatever it is, we will update the public through the media."

Ms Ocloo made this known after holding her first meeting with top officials of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC) last Monday.

She stressed that the decision that would be taken on the land would be in the best interest of the country.

Context

The Agbogbloshie Scrapyard is located near the Abossey Okai Central Mosque, the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) along the Korle Bu Mortuary Road and straddles the Old Fadama stretch of the heavily polluted Odaw River.

The scrapyard had gained notoriety for the open burning of electronic waste, making it one of the world’s dirtiest e-waste sites.

The Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC), with the support of armed police personnel, stormed the Agbogbloshie Scrapyard on July 1, 2021, and demolished structures that hosted about 10,000 scrap dealers.

The demolition exercise was part of the “Let’s Make Accra Work” initiative spearheaded by the former Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey.

Armed with bulldozers, the team cleared all occupants of the 20-acre land and forcefully displaced the scrapyard workers. The demolition also affected the onion market in the same area.

The parcel of land was walled and 15 acres were earmarked for the construction of the Ablekuma Central Municipal Hospital under the Agenda 111 Hospitals project by the previous government. 

Dramatic return

However, four years after the demolition exercise, the reclaimed land at the Agbogbloshie scrapyard is under siege as some of the dealers in scrap metal have staged a comeback.

The Daily Graphic reported in its Friday, January 24 edition that more than 100 wooden structures had sprung up on the land.

“Within two weeks, scores of scrap dealers had broken through the protective wall and started constructing wooden structures on the land with impunity,” the Daily Graphic reported.

A three-day surveillance by the Daily Graphic of the area revealed that various sections of the wall constructed around the parcel of land had been broken by the scrap dealers to enable them to gain access to put up their structures.

Concerns by residence

Meanwhile, some residents of the Old Fadama slum at Agbogbloshie are worried about the attempts by the scrap dealers to reoccupy the reclaimed lands.

Some of them told the Daily Graphic that the demolition of the scrapyard came as a huge relief to members of the public because the slum community was always inundated with air pollution from the activities of the scrap dealers.

“If the scrap dealers are allowed to return to their base, it means that the air pollution in this area will worsen.

We are already battling with polluted air as some of the scrap dealers are still with us and burning e-waste; if the others come back to join them at the scrapyard, we will die slowly,” Stephen Gyagri, a 41-year-old resident of Old Fadama, lamented.

Mr Gyagri said if the scrap metal dealers were allowed to take over the reclaimed land, it would send a negative signal that anyone could act with impunity in the name of politics and go free.

A teacher in one of the privately owned basic schools at the Old Fadama slum, who pleaded anonymity, said if the scrap dealers were allowed to come back to their base, it would increase truancy among the schoolchildren and worsen the spate of children engaged in hazardous work.

“When the scrapyard was very active, some of our pupils dodged school and went there to work under dangerous conditions.

After it was demolished, most of the children now stay in class; but if the business returns, the children will go back and ruin their lives,” the source said.