President John Dramani Mahama has ordered the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and TDC Ghana Limited to end their ongoing institutional dispute and work within clearly defined areas of responsibility.
The directive follows growing tensions between the two institutions over development control, spatial planning, permitting, revenue obligations and other regulatory matters within the Tema Metropolis.
Under the arrangement communicated by the Presidency, TMA will retain its constitutional and statutory responsibilities as the highest political and administrative authority in the metropolis, while TDC will concentrate on its role as a commercially oriented real estate developer.
The President’s position, conveyed by the Secretary to the President, Dr Callistus Mahama, is that TDC’s corporate status does not give it municipal, legislative, regulatory or spatial planning powers.
“While its historical contribution to the planning and development of Tema is acknowledged, its current corporate status does not confer municipal, legislative, regulatory, or spatial planning authority,” the letter stated.
President Mahama consequently directed TDC to recognise and comply with TMA’s authority in matters including development control, spatial planning, building and development permits, municipal services, rates, fees and other lawful regulatory requirements.
At the same time, the President cautioned TMA against using its regulatory mandate in a manner that could be considered arbitrary or unnecessarily obstruct legitimate development, investment or TDC’s commercial operations.
He stressed that neither institution should assume functions legally assigned to the other, signalling the need for cooperation rather than institutional competition.
To resolve the outstanding issues, the Ministers for Works, Housing and Water Resources and Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs have been tasked to develop an administrative and operational framework governing the relationship between TMA and TDC.
The framework will address development permitting, infrastructure coordination, revenue obligations, information sharing, dispute resolution and periodic engagement between the two institutions.
The government has also directed both TMA and TDC to immediately halt actions, public statements and media engagements that could further inflame the dispute.
The two Ministers are expected to meet the leadership of both institutions and submit the agreed framework, alongside a report on outstanding issues and their proposed resolution, to the President within 14 days.
President Mahama warned that any continued institutional confrontation, refusal to comply with the directive or further public escalation of the dispute would be treated seriously.
The directive is therefore intended to preserve TMA’s statutory regulatory authority while allowing TDC to carry out its commercial property development mandate without unnecessary institutional obstruction.
