I once travelled to, Harare, Zimbabwe when things were going well for the country’s economy; I was impressed with how Harare looked; it was beautiful with well-laid out streets. i concluded that Harare made Accra look like a village. I published my impressions in The Independent.
As expected I got some verbal abuse from readers for what was considered “a rather uncharitable and naive comparison”.
Harare was deliberately planned by the colonial settlers as their home and country for eternity and so everything was made to make Harare look just like another European capital- a dedicated business and commercial area, plush residential areas, closed sewage systems, open spaces, parks and gardens, broad streets, a range of flowers and trees to give some green, and uniform designs and architecture in the various residential areas. One did not see mountains of rubbish heaped along streets as was the phenomenon in some West African capitals.
The “natives” of Zimbabwe had until independence been kept out of these serene and beautiful parts and limited to their own areas like Highland which were nevertheless well planned like the relatively middle class section of Soweto where Mandela and Walter Sisulu had their modest homes.
My visit to Harare was somewhere in 1993, some 21 years later, Accra has made its own strides in modernization to earn the admiration of a visiting Ivorian delegation. The delegation was so impressed by the new skyline and “adorned” streets of Accra, from the Accra Airport via the emerging Airport City, through the Independence Avenue to the Ministries, that one of them exclaimed-“Accra est propre”- (“Accra is neat) in obvious comparison with his own Abidjan which the civil crisis had turned into a city of filth and dour houses crying out for blessings of paint.
Accra, even beyond what one sees in the inner city and ministerial enclave has indeed changed with modern and exquisite residential communities such as West Legon, North Legon, Tressaco Valley, Regimanuel, Manet , Devtraco, Sanpark Estates and Villagio near the Accra Mall and many more such gated communities where the rich, powerful and famous live.
But because all that glitters may not necessarily be gold, the beauty in these well-planned areas hides the ugliness in a greater part of the Accra Metropolitan Area which is home to over 4 million people.
I do not know what our city planners and developers are planning for the future Accra, but as was the case in colonial times, it seems tome that the emphasis is on where the rich and powerful live, East Legon, Cantoments, Labone, Airport Residential Area to mention just a few.
The colonial government had an eye for planning, and in 1923 ordered that all new buildings in the Gold Coast be built out of stone and concrete.
Adabraka is the product of that policy. After the Second World War, the colonial administration earmarked Ridge and Cantonments as low density areas for Europeans and did not bother about the emerging slums in Nima and other parts of Accra where rural migrants settled.
The result is the wide disparity and gulf between what we see in Nima and the Ridges and subsequently the near-by Kanda, Labone, Awudome and Ringway Estates of Accra which were carefully planned and built as low density residential areas by the Nkrumah regime.
Some relatively low cost estates built by that regime and other regimes from Busia’s time through Acheampong’s era to the years of Rawlings show that it is possible with effective planning and housing regulation to make Accra a total modern city where irrespective of where one lives, one can have access to very basic facilities and services such as water, good roads, schools, recreational parks, sports complexes, health facilities, everything that enhances the quality of life.
Because there is no eagle eye on how Accra should look like today and tomorrow, go to any of the new residential communities in Accra-Awoshie, Sowutuom, Anyaa, Agege, Weija, Gbawe, Bortianor and Kasoa which is virtualy part of Accra now, Ofankor, Amasaman, and you may agree with me that although Accra is truly expanding, it is an expansion in slum living.
Take a short trip to Afienya and Dawhenya, so close to Tema and yet so far away in terms of proper planning.
With no serious regulation in place and the incapacity of District Assembles to assert their authority because of the haphazard way in which land is sold in the capital, people build without permits and locate their projects with no respect for what should be demarcations to allow for roads and other facilities such as public schools.
The situation can be so chaotic that some residents in these areas cannot park their cars at home but must park metres away and walk. Let it rain and you see the elements combining with man’s carelessness and lack of vision to deny access to homes. With no proper drainage, the rains take over everything in their path.
What I see as chaos in property under-development could be solved among many factors through land reforms-quite a tall order- given the land ownership structure in Ghana.
Our neighbours, Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast have done very well in land administration which accounts for regulation and planning even in poor residential areas.
Both our central and local governments should be giving very serious thought to how all Ghanaians live and not just how, they, the political elite live and therefore take all appropriate measures to make our cities and towns habitable and beautiful.
We should also as a nation have a holistic and futuristic view of how we want our towns and villages, particularly our capitals, regional and national to look as they respond to increases in population and migration.
As indicated earlier the British administration had a clear idea as to how Accra should look. Colonial administrator Maxwell Fry in 1944 and later D.D.W Treavaillon and Alan Flood drew up the original plan which was reviewed by Sir Gordon Guggisberg who built schools, notably Achimota School and the Korle Bu Hospital
After independence, the Nkrumah regime did not like certain aspects of the colonial plan that was considered elitist and came out with its own master plan, including the building of the Tema port and city.
The Ivorian authorities during the Gbagbo regime even at the heart of the crisis, focused on how the future Abidjan should look and put in place a futuristic design of the Ivorian capital which included the building of a third bridge.
It is this plan President Ouattara is following; a vision initiated by his opponent. Similarly Gbabgo whilst he was totally opposed to the politics of Houphouet- Boigny faithfully implemented aspects of the original plan of the first Ivorian leader for a new national capital at Yamoussoukrom. But for the crisis he would have done more. He built a modern hospital and a multi-purpose facility for the Ivorian Parliament, part of the original plan.
You need to visit Yamoussoukrom to see how the basic infrastructure for the capital was laid long before civil servants and others moved in to occupy a modern city ready any day for expansion.
Is there such a master plan for Accra?
The whole hullabaloo about land grab in plush areas such as Cantonments and Labone by politicians is an admission that they want to enjoy what was built of old instead of creating new residential enclaves which will enjoy the facilities that exist in these old residential areas.
If I may say the last word about modernizing our city, it will be a suggestion that Kotoka International Airport should be modernized to serve as an attractive gateway to Ghana.
What one sees there is a picture of chaos and confusion. There have been suggestions that a new airport should be built at Prampram. I see more chaos from that plan as I consider how passengers are going to commute as fast as possible to and from Prampram. Kotoka Airport has enough land to accommodate the building of more terminals.
I have not touched on urban transportation, but that is a feature of many a modern city and must be given all the attention it deserves.
Kabral Blay-Amihere