Tema Meridian Hotel redevelopment: Youth protest private developer's takeover and destroys new fence wall

A group of young people from Tema Manhean in the Greater Accra Region has protested the takeover and redevelopment of the defunct Tema Meridian Hotel site by a private developer.

Expressing opposition to what they described as the "indiscriminate sale" of a site with deep cultural and historical significance to the people of Tema, they stormed the site on Tuesday [Jan 6, 2026] and destroyed a fence wall, the developer had constructed.

The youth insisted that the Meridian Hotel area represented the original settlement of the Tema people before their relocation to present-day Tema Manhean.

It is their argument that the site was not merely a commercial asset but an important symbol of Tema’s heritage and identity, which must be preserved for future generations.

Speaking on behalf of the group, one Benjamin Mensah Commey said the land has, in recent months, become the subject of controversy following reports that it has been sold or leased to a private investor. 

He claimed that the traditional authorities in Tema were yet to be formally informed about the identity of the developer and the specific purpose for which the land is being redeveloped.

Commey argued that the land was compulsorily acquired by the government many years ago without any compensation to the original owners.

“Government took this land without paying a dime to the people of Tema, and today the same land is being disposed off without proper consultation,” he stated.

Meanwhile, checks by Graphic Online at the TDC Ghana Ltd indicate that the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) authorised the issuance of a fresh sublease on the defunct property and its lands to a developer in the year 2007.

The developer, according to a source, legally secured a 50-year lease from the TDC in 2007 to demolish the existing structure and redevelop it into a modern, fit-for-purpose hospitality facility. 

The old Meridian Hotel currently stands as an abandoned structure, which has become a haven for drug addicts, thieves, and unauthorised parking space for articulated trucks. 

Writer's email benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh