NGO charges govt to curb gentrification in Accra

A non-governmental organization, Good Governance Africa (GGA), has called on the government and relevant authorities to address the issue of gentrification in indigenous communities in Accra.

Gentrification is a process of urban renewal and development that often leads to the displacement of low-income residents by wealthier individuals or businesses.

During a technical validation workshop on City Renewal and Modernization in Africa, specifically analysing the impact on the urban poor in gentrified communities, GGA emphasized the need to curb gentrification due to its economic pressure on the urban poor.

The objective of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 is to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, with a focus on ensuring the inclusion of minority groups such as the urban poor in development decisions.

The Research Coordinator at GGA’s West Africa Regional Office, Edward Teye Sarpong highlighted in an interview with Citi News that preliminary findings from their draft report indicate that communities affected by certain key urban infrastructure projects in Accra have limited information about such projects. This lack of information raises concerns about community ownership and can lead to citizen agitation.

“We embarked on a survey called Traditional Communities in the City of Accra and what we realized is that, though there is a renewal of towns and neighbourhoods in Accra, there is also a widening gap of poverty in the city because these new developments are done by people in the middle and higher classes” he explained.

He added, “The locals themselves don’t have the capacity to embark on the kind of development that are taking place so if deliberate action policy is not instituted with time, we are going to lose the traditional settings we have in our urban areas and not only that, the very people who own the land will have very little to call their home”.