Open Letter to GoldBod (Ghana Gold Board)
4th September 2026
Ghana Gold Board
1 Thorpe Road
Accra
Dear Board,
We write to urge you to reconsider plans to appropriate 3 acres of Parks and Gardens land in Cantonments to build GoldBod headquarters on land acquired in 1952 from the Ga people for horticultural purposes.
Ghana’s visionary first President Kwame Nkrumah understood the importance of the environment and green spaces and set up Parks and Gardens in all our regional capitals to beautify the nation, conserve the environment, preserve our environmental heritage and develop Ghana’s horticultural potential.
He so valued our green spaces that when he established the Ministry of Parks and Gardens in 1965 it was headed by a Cabinet Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Nee Ocansey.
If GoldBod wants to modernise Parks and Gardens headquarters as part of its corporate social responsibility, that will be very welcome. But attempts to appropriate 3 acres of land in exchange will be resisted, because it will be a backward step sending the wrong signals, and encouraging those who consider our trees and flora mere weeds.
At a time when our forests are being decimated by irresponsible mining and logging, and our green spaces encroached by developers,it would send an extremely negative message about the value that GoldBod places on the environment for GoldBod itself to participate in the encroachment of one of the few remaining green spaces in Accra.
His Excellency the President deplored the way Accra was becoming a concrete jungle at the Presidential Dialogue on 30th March 2026. Building GoldBod headquarters on 3 acres of Parks and Gardens land is not the way to stop the concrete jungle from advancing.
The Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) noted in a letter dated July 2021 that the original use of the land is a Horticultural Nursery and that “…the Department of Parks and Gardens uses the land to nurse seedlings and to cultivate other tree species for Government and other relevant institutions and the general public for planting and beautification of the city of Accra. The site is therefore an active green open space and for that matter a public space and should remain as such.”
We urge you to look elsewhere for land to build the GoldBod headquarters.
As Ghanaians, we cannot stand idly by whilst our dwindling green spaces are misappropriated, and as such Eco-Conscious Citizens stand in solidarity with Parks and Gardens workers resisting the appropriation of Parks and Gardens land.
Kind regards,
Awula Serwah
Executive Director
EcoConsciousCitizens@gmail.com
Thanks for publishing this open letter, and helping to get the message to the general public and hopefully to the GoldBoard executive!