In its statement, the Accra Turf Club named two individuals, Clement Dzato and a man it identified only as Azuma, as having led the group onto the premises.

The Club said the men arrived with nine bulldozers and one excavator and proceeded to demolish stables, buildings and vegetation across the site, while cutting utility services and forcing horses out of their stalls.

Jockeys were reportedly ejected from their residential quarters on the grounds, and the Club’s own offices and equipment were destroyed in the process.

The statement further alleges that track railings, roofing sheets, water tank stands and other materials were stripped from the property and sold on site by members of the group, and that all entrances to the Race Course were blocked to prevent Club officials from returning.

Once the demolition was complete, the Club says the group took possession of the facility and ejected its members from the premises entirely.

What Was Destroyed, According to the Club

  • Roughly 100 horse stables
  • Buildings and horse-racing infrastructure across the site
  • Vegetation and utility services serving the facility
  • The Club’s offices and equipment
  • Track railings, roofing sheets and water tank stands, allegedly sold on the spot

The Club says the group was accompanied by police personnel under the command of an officer identified as DSP Malaika, who told Club officials he was attached to Police Headquarters.

When Lakeside Police Station officers and other patrol teams responded to the Club’s initial distress call, they reportedly confronted Dzato, Azuma and DSP Malaika at the scene. Dzato is said to have claimed the land had been formally handed over to the group, while DSP Malaika told the responding officers that documentation establishing ownership had been produced and that his team’s presence was meant to facilitate a lawful handover.

The Club maintains that no such documentation, nor any court order authorising entry, possession or demolition, was ever produced to the police at the scene. Despite the intervention of Lakeside Police officers, the demolition continued, and officers ultimately left without halting the operation.

The Club says it made repeated further appeals to the relevant authorities as the destruction went on, without success.

The Club’s Claim to the Land

The Accra Turf Club traces organised horse racing in Accra back to around 1876, with the Club itself formally constituted in 1923. Its current site at Borteyman dates to a relocation from its former grounds, land now occupied by the National Security Secretariat, the Accra International Conference Centre and the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City.

That relocation followed a formal agreement with the Government of Ghana dated 24 May 2006.

The Club says the Borteyman site forms part of land compulsorily acquired by the state under Certificate of Title No. 214/40, and that its occupation rests on a High Court order dated 8 March 2005 arising from Suit No. AE/32/2004, in which the Lands Commission was a defendant.

That order, issued by Justice P. Baffoe Bonnie now Chief Justice of Ghana  granted the Lands Commission leave to demarcate 46.64 hectares of the site for the Club’s use, which the Club says remains the legal basis of its occupation and race-course operations today.

Club’s Appeal to Government

The Club has formally called on President John Dramani Mahama, along with the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak; the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah; the Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine; the Inspector-General of Police, Christian Tetteh Yohuno; and National Security Coordinator DCOP Abdul-Osman Razak, to intervene urgently in the matter.

Specifically, the Club is asking the state to eject what it calls land grabbers from the property, restore its access and possession, halt any further attempt by the Lands Commission to alienate or transfer the land, and investigate the events of 22 August with a view to prosecuting those responsible.

 

The Accra Turf Club says it remains the rightful custodian of the Race Course and intends to pursue all lawful avenues to recover the property, protect its remaining horses and personnel, and preserve what it describes as a sporting tradition spanning more than a century in Ghana. The Club says it is confident the President will act swiftly to address the matter.