Traditional leaders, environmentalists, climate advocates, and residents of Dodowa and Shai (Se) have called for an immediate halt to the clearing of part of the Dodowa Forest for a temporary market.
The proposed interim market is intended to accommodate traders during the redevelopment of the Dodowa Market into a 24-hour economic hub.
While residents acknowledge the economic benefits of the project, they insist it must not come at the cost of a forest they say represents over 200 years of cultural, historical, and environmental heritage.
Mr Bright Adjartey Apperkon, spokesperson for the Apperkon Family, which owns a significant portion of the market land, confirmed that clearing activities had already begun.
He alleged that Madam Linda Akweley Ocloo, the Member of Parliament for Shai-Osudoku and Greater Accra Regional Minister, directed that part of the forest be used as a temporary market site.
“I visited the area and saw that part of the forest had been cleared and blocks laid. This is the destruction of our heritage, customs, and traditions,” he said.
Mr Apperkon noted that the Dodowa Forest, once spanning about 320 acres, has already been reduced to a few acres due to encroachment.
He described it as the historic battleground of the Katamanso War (1824–1826), where allied Ga-Dangbe and coastal tribes defeated the Ashanti forces.
He also recalled that under former Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, encroachers were removed, trees planted, and the forest declared a security zone.
“Why protect Ramsar sites and destroy our forest reserve?” he questioned.
Mr Renner Awatey Kwesi Noah, a royal of the late Nene Bana Atrokpa I’s Lineage, described the forest as the spiritual and cultural backbone of the Shai people.
“We support development, but not at the expense of our heritage. The location of the temporary market is the problem,” he said, warning that converting the site into a market would lead to sanitation and environmental degradation.
Dr Gloria Djaney Djagbletey, former Principal Research Scientist at the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute, touched on the ecological value of the forest.
“Beyond providing food and medicinal resources, the forest acts as a windbreak, supports biodiversity, enhances rainfall, filters water, prevents erosion, and reduces pollution,” she said.
“The Dodowa Forest is a sacred grove. Destroying it is like erasing the soul of the Shai people.”
Rev Jonathan Obour-Wiredu, Greater Accra Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission, also warned of environmental consequences.
“The forest creates beneficial microclimatic conditions. Clearing it removes topsoil and ultimately shortens human life span,” he said.
He added that the Forestry Commission had limited control over community-owned forests such as Dodowa, making local stewardship critical.
“We do not have absolute control over forest reserves that are not under Forestry Commission and the Dodowa Forest is one of them where the community has more control. When I heard about the Forest being used as a temporal market, I said to myself that the top soil is gone, we are killing the forest,” he said.