A few years ago, Eco-Conscious Citizens successfully campaigned against the construction of a multi-storey office building on Parks and Gardens land in Accra.

We are disappointed to hear that Parks and Gardens lands are being encroached on in Wa, in the Upper West Region, and that one of the buildings under construction on Parks and Gardens land is a petrol station!

It appears that we pay lip service to Climate Change, Green Ghana, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and attend COP meetings, but have no appreciation or regard for open spaces, combating climate change or reaching the SDGs.

We are relentlessly destroying our green spaces. For example: E.I. 144 Forests (Cessation Of Forest) Instrument 2022 declassified parts of Achimota Forest Reserve – the lungs of Accra, and L.I. 2462 Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations has virtually given open access to our forest reserves, including globally significant biodiversity areas.

We purport to Green Ghana, but allow illegal mining and community mining to destroy our land and water bodies.

Enough is enough.

We call on:

1. Parliament to invite Hon. Daniel Botwe, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development under whose Ministry Parks and Gardens falls, to explain why there is encroachment and construction on Parks and Gardens land in Wa.

2. The Environmental Protection Agency and Wa Municipal Assembly Chief Executive, Hon. Tahiru Issahaku Moomin to confirm whether licences and building permits have been granted for private buildings on Parks and Gardens land.

3. Ghanaians to be active citizens, not spectators, and to say Hands Off Our Green Spaces and Hands Off our Parks and Gardens.

Long Live Ghana
Awula Serwah
Eco-Conscious Citizens founder