Author: Samuel Ocquaye Shagboo
Senior, what prevents National Security from engaging the traditional leaders and other relevant stakeholders in an area when there is an issue concerning the acquisition or use of land for a major development such as a hotel?
If the land was released by the allodial owners for the construction of the hotel, then surely the traditional authorities and legitimate landowners should be among the first stakeholders to be engaged when serious problems arise concerning the land or the development.
If the hotel management had challenges, why should the matter move directly to a state security institution without first exhausting meaningful discussions with the landowners and traditional authorities?
What is particularly worrying is the apparent lack of consultation before such an irreversible action was taken. If reports that the demolition occurred without prior engagement with the traditional leaders, the MP and the Municipal Assembly are accurate, then we need to ask serious questions about how government institutions are coordinating their responsibilities.
We have municipal security structures. We have the Regional Security Council. We have the Municipal Assembly, traditional authorities and elected representatives. Were all these institutions unaware of what was going to happen, or were they simply not part of the decision-making process?
If National Security is part of the machinery of government, then its actions should ultimately strengthen public confidence in government, not create the impression that one institution can act independently of the relevant local authorities and communities.
The most troubling question is: why wait until after an irreversible action has taken place before explaining it to the people?
Government must have the authority to protect public interest and national security. But authority should go together with accountability, coordination, consultation and respect for legitimate local institutions.
Senior, I admire you from afar, and I say this respectfully. But I believe actions of this nature can have serious political consequences for the government and the party at the local level. People are watching, and when their livelihoods, properties and traditional lands are involved, they expect to be treated with dignity.
Government is in power today, but tomorrow it may be in opposition. The institutions we strengthen today will serve all governments tomorrow.
Let us therefore protect the authority of government while ensuring that government authority is exercised responsibly, transparently and with the people — not at the blind side of the people.
This is not about NPP or NDC. It is about good governance, institutional coordination, respect for traditional authorities and the protection of public confidence in the State.
