More than 200 farmers at Akyem Asene near Oda, Ghana, are appealing to the government for adequate compensation after their property was destroyed to pave the way for the construction of the new Accra-Kumasi expressway. The destroyed property includes cocoa and food crop farms, as well as oil palm plantations.
The affected farmers, wearing red pieces of cloth, demonstrated through the principal streets of Asene before converging on the Asene durbar ground to speak to the media about their grievances. Leaders of the victims, including Kofi Koranteng Sarpong, Yaw Peprah, Da Costa Asamoah, and Yaw Ampomah Asiedu, explained the hardships they are facing after the destruction of their property over eight months ago.
The farmers said that after losing their farms, they could no longer make ends meet; neither could they pay the fees of their children in tertiary educational institutions because they had been deprived of their means of livelihood. Mr. Asamoah, for instance, said that since his eight-acre cocoa farm, which gave him an average income of about GH¢40,000 annually was destroyed in February 2026, he had been facing economic hardships.
Mr. Koranteng Sarpong noted with concern that the surveyors working on the project had not measured the destroyed farms of more than 20 farmers, including himself, to determine the extent of the damage, let alone the compensation due to them. This has added to the uncertainty and financial struggles of the affected farmers.
When the Daily Graphic contacted the Head of the Ghana Highway Authority survey team for the road project, Samuel Tieku, he confirmed that some of the farmers’ destroyed farms had not been measured to assess the extent of the damage to their property. He explained that the width of the new expressway was widened from 120 to 150 meters, affecting more farmers than initially anticipated.
Mr. Tieku urged the affected farmers to exercise restraint as their concerns would be communicated to the appropriate quarters to assess the extent of damage to their property and pay them adequate compensation. The Benkumhene of Asene, Nana Ntiamoah Nyarko, also added his voice to the appeal of the aggrieved farmers to the government to pay them the necessary compensation to ease their economic hardships.
The Benkumhene stressed that under normal circumstances, the government should have paid the affected farmers compensation before destroying their farms for the commencement of the expressway, but that was not done. The farmers are now eagerly waiting for the government's response to their appeals.
Key points
- The Accra-Kumasi expressway project has affected over 200 farmers at Akyem Asene.
- The affected farmers are yet to receive adequate compensation for their destroyed property.
- The Ghana Highway Authority has promised to assess the damage and facilitate compensation for the affected farmers.
