Private legal practitioner and land expert Kwame Gyan says government should end its obsession with Cantonments in Accra and instead spearhead the development of new sites for government officials.
He was referring to government’s plan to redevelop the area to make way for the creation of housing for public and civil service officials, including members of the judiciary among others.
According to him, the patch of land Cantonments sits on has been a matter of contention for successive governments since the introduction of the Accra redevelopment programme in 1999.
The programme has faced many setbacks with various governments accused of land-grabbing and selling plots of prime estate to private developers leading to the flux of luxury apartments in the area.
This has seen the dislodgement of key government officials who hold sensitive positions in government.
Speaking on Joy Super Morning Show, Kwame Gyan, said governments should instead be interested in developing similar estate projects across the country and leave Cantonments alone.
“We should go to Suhum and facilitate the creation of another Cantonment there. Acheampong, the man we say didn’t go to school when he was head of state, he created Dansoman, not so? So what have we created?
“Why are we only struggling over the little that we come to see when we come into politics? Why don’t we create and take some so that everybody else can also take some?
“Why do we come and the small which has been created by the forebears we still struggle on the small,” he said.
He noted that the policy is no longer viable as the government has run out of land in the Accra Cantonments area and so should look elsewhere.
“The redevelopment programme has actually stopped itself. What is there? Where are the lands? They should just let it go and find something else.
“There are still some public lands which can be properly schemed with roads and so on, why is everybody interested in cantonments? It’s because of the amenities. We should recreate cantonments everywhere,” he said.
