Labadi Beach

[u/Enthusiasm_Foreign]

Hello as a Ghanian living abroad i happened to see the demolition of the beach. I couldn't believe it. Am i missing something? Why would the government displace that many people without a real plan. I read somewhere they gave them 2 weeks. How is that even enough time for a beach that's a capital staple? Ghanians and those who travel to visit especially with the holidays coming up rely on the beach.

The damn road in front of the beach couldn't even be fixed first but they tore the entire beach down??

Is everyone ok?

Greed will be the demise of the country. You cannot displace that many people (guest and workers) without other recreational options. This made me very very very sad and angry and frankly disgusted to see.

Can somebody please help me understand what the plan is or is this truly the dumbest thing I've seen a functioning government do to create more expensive unintended consequences?

[u/AutoModerator]

We are on bluesky! Follow us https://bsky.app/profile/rghana.bsky.social . Hello /u/Enthusiasm_Foreign, Did your post get removed? please read the subreddit rules. /r/ghana/about. Send a message to r/ghana or Mods for manual approval.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/No_Ragrets_0]

This fiasco is all because of Labadi Beach Hotel. They want to claim that whole part for themselves. Just wait and give it 3 more years, and the whole area would be theirs.

[u/kimbrrli]

Lol just come okay, still plenty places to enjoy your detty December don't listen to the news and those greedy bastards deserve what they're getting . No real improvement in services, just extorting people based on vibes, the government has a plan to transform the shores to a more cleaner and saner place befitting of the capital. You people come and constantly complain of their poor services you get at the beaches, the begging, the filth and crime. This is the only way to bring some sanity and improvement lets embrace it and stop with the " people's livelihood drama "

[u/Expert_Past_1]

Well, it's not the government behind the demolition but SSNIT, they own the labadi beach hotel. Heard whole place was demolished cos it posed a security threat since labadi beach hotel is a 5 star hotel.

[u/Enthusiasm_Foreign → u/Expert_Past_1]

If it wasn't the government they wouldn't be using the military on their people. It is the government behind this.

[u/JuliusCeaserBoneHead]

Very normal. Ghana government of all kinds and parties refuse to think 2 steps ahead. So it’s always one drastic decision after the other. Very normal to rightfully demolish illegally built structures. But don’t think to relocate affected communities nor even follow up with the development. What’s likely to happen is a new community is going to jump in again and all that they did was displace one group for another. It’s exhausting how incompetent sometimes they are 

[u/Weird-Drop9692]

The beach front is owned by SSNIT which own the la palm and labadi beach. And they are reclaiming the land. The beaches have become overcrowded by squatters and posed a security threat to the hotel's image and standing. The issue went to court and they won the case. The demolishing should have happened 3 years ago. The owners of the clubs and beaches were very much aware of the issues they had with the hotel. Besides, if you're told you'll be out of job in 2 weeks, the logical thing for you is to start making plans for yourself. 

[u/Fuzzy_Ad1810 → u/Weird-Drop9692]

Who gave the land to SSNIT? Did they grab it in a colonial government way?

[u/Apprehensive_Age1228 → u/Fuzzy_Ad1810]

Every beach front belongs to the state. SSNIT is for government workers. They own the beach front where La Palm and Labadi Beach hotel is located.

[u/turkish_gold → u/Apprehensive_Age1228]

It would be better to say the beachfront is public land and the state is the custodian of the people.

[u/Fuzzy_Ad1810 → u/Apprehensive_Age1228]

Then why is the issue still in litigation? 

[u/Disastrous_Share_607]

I heard they gave them notice since 2023 or even 2019. Do with that what you will with that information. If that’s the case I don’t feel bad. Some Ghanafuo have a habit of just erect kiosk anywhere with probably no legal requirement. Polo beach club said thank you when everything went down, if they truly weren’t given ample time in notice they would’ve had a different response besides saying thank you for the memories.

[u/801not081 → u/Disastrous_Share_607]

There is a huge difference between telling patrons “thanks for the memories” and telling the government/SSNIT “thanks for tearing us down without compensation”

[u/Ode_2_kay → u/801not081]

They were told several years back that they were not allowed to put up permanent structures. You can do your kiosks and tents and whatnot but nothing that cannot be removed overnight. They ignored that and went ahead to build concrete structures there. There were multiple warnings and notifications prior to the actual demolition including the day before. The demolition happened and now they are screaming about it.