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Sale of Achimota forest - four go to court

Sale of Achimota forest - four go to court

The above front page news item which was fully captured under News on page 3 of the Daily Graphic of Wednesday, April 27, 2016 makes interesting reading indeed. 

In the said news item, four concerned citizens of Ghana who are the Plaintiffs, namely Dr Adolf Lutterodt an Educationist, Ms Dede Amanor Wilks, a Development Specialist, Mr Kwame Dadze, a lawyer and Ms Elizabeth Tettey-Sei Adams, a businesswoman, have filed a suit seeking the Court to “declare that the removal of the Achimota Forest is inimical to the Public Welfare, Public Health and interest of the people of Ghana.” 

In the statement of claim, the Plaintiffs were of the firm belief that the removal of the forest cover and greenery provided by the Achimota forest in exchange of ECOTOURISM (emphasis mine) facility was inimical to the health of the people living in Accra and its environs, pose a threat / damage to the health of the environment and must be stopped by the court in the supreme interest of the people of Accra.”

The defendants are, the Attorney General, the Forestry Commission, the Lands Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Under normal circumstances, it is dangerous to give an opinion about issues in court with the attendant risk of being charged with Contempt.  This article is not to make a judgement about who is right or wrong. It simply aims at offering an alternative, a lasting and more beneficial solution to the issue at stake.

Court Judgement

It is significant to bear in mind that whichever way the court judgement goes, Ghanaians and the people of Accra will be the losers. For instance, in case the court finds merit in the Plaintiffs’ claim and makes an order to stop the project, the job opportunities that would be created, the increase in tax revenues from tourism businesses that would be established, the benefits to be derived from the conservation of the environment and preservation of the cultural heritage, the recreational and entertainment facilities that would be created for the people of Accra and the proper economic use of the Achimota forest, will all be lost forever. 

On the other hand, in case the court finds the defendants action of sale of Achimota forest to an investor for ecotourism facility to be of merit and does not grant the relief being sought by the plaintiffs, the entire people of Accra and more especially, the settlements in and around the forest will be the losers. The reason is simple, the people of Accra will not be given the opportunity to comment, get involved, participate in, understand and benefit from a project that is going to affect their lives forever. 

This is the basis for the plaintiffs’ suit and to that extent their action is to protect the interest of the good people of Accra and Ghana as a whole from possible future negative consequences.

Negative Reaction 

At this juncture, let me digress a while to give a few examples of the negative reaction to well-intentioned development programmes which were undertaken by some NGOs without the involvement of the community who were the major stakeholders and beneficiaries of the project. 

• A non-governmental organisation (NGO) which was into the provision of social amenities for deprived communities unilaterally decided to provide a health post for a village whose citizens have been suffering from some strange skin diseases. The entire community refused to use the health post. When the NGO did a survey, they realised much to their disappointment that the priority of the community was the acquisition of brass band instruments and not a health post. This was because a rival village close by has brass band instruments which were being used to woe their women during the full moon entertainment sessions in that village. This was creating some sort of social disintegration among couples in the village and the solution was the acquisition of brass band instruments.

• In another village, an NGO unilaterally decided to provide pipe borne water for the people because the stream they were fetching water from was infested with guinea worms. The community refused to draw their water from the pipes provided in the village. The reason? The women who fetched the water the stream, preferred to go to the river side because it offered them the opportunity to gossip while on the half a kilometer walk to and from the river side. The pipes were too close to their homes.

• A third example is in a village where an NGO unilaterally constructed a place of convenience for the people who were suffering from infections due to the problem of open defecation. The people refused to use the facility. The reason? According to tradition in the village, children and the youth are forbidden to use the same place of convenience with their elders.

In all the cases above, even though the intentions of the NGOs were genuine, poor communication and lack of community and stakeholder consultation and involvement caused the projects to die naturally. Similarly, the Achimota Ecotourism facility project although may be well intentioned, it can be stopped by the court, for the forest to continue to be degraded by encroachers due to poor communication, absence of community involvement and lack of social preparation, on the part of the defendants.

We may be ignorant here, but we need to have some answers to a few critical questions from the defendants in the “sale of Achimota forest to an investor for ecotourism facility project”.

I. To what extent is the Ministry of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts (MOTC&CA) and its implementing agencies the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Ghana Tourist Development Company (GTDC) which are responsible for tourism development in Ghana, involved in this project?

II. Is it an outright sale, a lease or Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) of the Achimota Forest to the investor?  This is a matter of public concern because best practices throughout the world, favour some form of partnership agreement using the land as equity or a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement, so that both the present and future generations will benefit from the project. Outright sale of a national asset such as the Achimota forest is like committing suicide. What if after the sale, the investor decides to use the forest for something different from an Ecotourism facility? The people of Ghana and citizens of Accra will lose control over the Achimota Forest forever if it is an outright sale.

III. To what extent are the numerous stakeholders and the communities around the forest involved in this project? 

IV. What are the benefits to the Government of Ghana, the agencies involved and the people of Accra? We need to know for the sake of probity and accountability.

V. What are the details in the sale of the Achimota Forest? 

VI. What kind of ecotourism facility is the investor envisaging? Has it got in built measures for the conservation of the forest and sustainability of the environmental quality? The EPA must come out with the approval report for all to see and scrutinise.

VII. Are there any plans to undertake social preparation of the community and do an extensive stakeholder consultations before the commencement of the project? Is it not too late since the project was expected to start in June 2016, had it not been the court suit?  (Vide: Ghanaian Times of Wednesday February 24, 2016 page 7- Accra Eco-park project begins in June. By Salifu Abdul-Rahaman). There seems to be more questions than answers. 

It is never too late to call a truce and let the project wait until a thorough stakeholder consultations and social preparations have been undertaken. This will ensure that at least, a reasonable majority of the stakeholders and the community understand and are in favour of the project. Even the minority who disagree with the project should not be ignored entirely, but there should be continuous dialogue and consultations with them to ensure the success of the project.

SIMILAR TOURISM PROJECTS IN GHANA

It has been done elsewhere before and best practices exist in several places for us to learn from. For instance, in the Western Region of Ghana, among the coastal settlements of Butre, Busua, Dixcove, Akwidaa, Cape Three Points, Princess town, Miamia, and Axim, a Ghanaian-based Italian NGO, Ricerca e Cooperazione, initiated a community-based Eco-cultural tourism development project, funded by the Italian government and the UNWTO-ST-EP programme. The writer was contracted to undertake community and stakeholder consultations and develop tour itineraries, marketing and promotional strategies as well as train local tourism management teams and tour guides. A similar project, code-named the Ankobra Gold Route – Common Ghanaian Dutch Historic and Cultural Heritage, was also undertaken among some coastal settlements and along the Ankobra River up to Prestea in the Western Region of Ghana. Here too, the writer was contracted to do a similar job.  Both projects were successful due to the intensive stakeholder and community consultations and involvement.

The success story of the collaboration between the Nature Conservation Resources Centre (NCRC) an NGO based in Accra, Ghana Tourism Authority and the Peace Corps Volunteers, to develop over 25 community-based eco-tourism sites in the northern, forest and coastal zones in Ghana where stakeholder consultations and community involvement were paramount, is another case in point.

THE WAY FORWARD

In the Ghanaian tradition “SANKOFA” is acceptable. I will advise the defendants in the court suit to dialogue with the plaintiffs to withdraw the suit so that we can go back to the basics and get all stakeholders involved. This action may delay the project a while but it is worth it, rather than to start it on a wrong footing.  We can achieve harmony and win the support of the community and Ghanaians if we choose the path of transparency, probity and accountability by involving all stakeholders in a wide range of consultations. There is the urgent need to prepare Ghanaians for the inevitable, the impact of the project, be it positive or negative. It is necessary to also assure all stakeholders of measures to maximise the positive impacts while mitigating or controlling the negative impacts to ensure sustainable environmental quality. 

There is also the need to undertake an intensive social preparation, which is the process that seeks to get the community involved in the entire project cycle from the planning, implementation, development, monitoring and rejuvenation stages. The process of social preparation includes, consultations with opinion leaders, focus group discussions, dialoging, house-to- house contacts, lobbying, consensus building meetings and awareness campaigns. This should be done for the community, in and around the forest to ensure their support, involvement, participation and commitment. 

Furthermore, a group of tourism experts should be put together to work hand-in-hand with the investor to ensure that international best practices in terms of development standards, guideline principles, rules and regulations, environmental considerations, health, safety and security standards are strictly adhered to. This will ensure greater public confidence in the ecotourism project.   

CONCLUSION

It is significant to remind planners and developers of tourism projects that in modern times, the trending issues in tourism development are: 

• Sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations, 

• High ecological and environmental quality for good health, 

• Conservation and preservation of natural, historic and cultural heritage, 

• Standard carrying capacity to prevent overcrowding and crime, 

• Effective use of local raw materials to enhance creativity, create jobs and reduce leakage of foreign exchange, 

• Consensus building, community and stakeholder involvement, participation and benefits, 

• Measures to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism,  

• Pro-poor tourism and poverty alleviation. 

Tourism projects that compromises on these trends will be sowing the seed for its own future destruction. However, to achieve the above, tourism projects must be well-planned and well-managed by experts with great vision and understanding of the tourism phenomenon.

Finally, I declare a truce for both the plaintiffs and the defendants and propose a dialogue under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts, as a first step to further consultations on the Achimota Forest Ecotourism facility project. We need a win – win situation in this matter not a lose - lose one.

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