Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso North Constituency Yussif Issaka Jajah has stated that residents and stakeholders of Nima ought to be briefed about details of the proposed Nima facelift else they will not support the idea.
The MP alleged that the Ministry of Works and Housing did not officially inform the actual residents of the planned re-development.
His comment comes on the back of an announcement by the sector minister, Samuel Atta Akyea, that there are plans in place to transform Nima into a world-class residential district.
According to the Minister, they were planning to build affordable housing for the community ‘free of charge’.
The Ayawaso North MP says his constituents and other stakeholders have not been formally engaged in the process prior to the announcement by the Minister; hence, it will be difficult for them to agree to the planned facelift.
Speaking on 3FM‘s Sunrise morning show on Wednesday, the MP said they will only support the initiative if they get information on what the concept entails and what the conditions are.
“If I look at it and it will favour, fine. Who will not like to be in a community or constituency which will look like New York, as they mentioned? Who does not want to see his community being upgraded?
“Nobody will say no to such a project but we need to know concepts underpinning this project, the conditions attached to it. If it is favourable, why not, we will go for it; but if the conditions and the concept will not favour our people, I don’t think the residents will go for it,” he said.
He also pointed out that in the similar instance of Kanda, which used to be a part of the Nima community, such upgrade displaced the actual slum dwellers replacing them with middle-income earners dwelling there today.
By Paul SelormAgbo|3news.com|Ghana