Urge Tema, Nungua Chiefs to iron-out differences
By Philip Antoh
The Greater Accra Regional Peace Council has stepped into the escalating Tema-Nungua Meridian Rock dispute, calling on the chiefs and people of the two traditional areas to settle the question of ownership through dialogue and to do so immediately.
The Council voiced concern over the rising tensions between the two communities, particularly the hostile exchanges among their youth on social media.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, November 4, and signed by the Council’s Chairman, Rt. Rev. Samuel Kofi Osabutey, it warned that the growing hostility could pose a threat to peace and security across the Greater Accra Region and asked both sides to keep their cool.
“The Peace Council would like to urge both parties to exercise restraint and remain calm while working towards an amicable resolution of the dispute,” the statement said.
Talk, Don’t Deepen Divisions
The Council stressed that the feuding parties should pursue constructive dialogue, negotiation and reconciliation, rather than allowing their differences to drive a deeper wedge between the two communities.
It also urged stakeholders to channel their grievances through the appropriate institutions, building consensus around a resolution both sides can accept noting that the two traditional areas have more interests in common than in conflict.
“The Council therefore advises that disagreements should be addressed through the appropriate institutions to facilitate constructive engagement and build consensus for mutually acceptable outcomes,” it added.
The Council further cautioned social media users against setting up platforms or engaging in any activity likely to inflame tensions between the communities.
The Tema-Nungua boundary conflict is a long-standing territorial and cultural struggle in the Greater Accra Region, centred on the ownership of ancestral lands and the Meridian Rock also known as the Black Rock the geographical marker that ties the region to the Greenwich Meridian and its coveted “Center of the World” title.
The immediate flashpoint is which traditional area holds custodial rights over the rock. Tensions rose sharply after Tema opposed rituals performed at the site by traditional authorities from Nungua, describing the acts as unauthorised incursions onto Tema ancestral land.
The Tema Youth Association has openly warned Nungua against celebrating or claiming the “Center of the World” identity, insisting that the Meridian Rock which makes the title possible sits firmly within Tema’s borders.
The roots stretch back to the early 1950s, when the Kwame Nkrumah government compulsorily acquired roughly 63 square miles of land from the traditional authorities of Tema, Nungua and Kpone to build the modern Tema Port and industrial city.
The Meridian Rock site lies near the original Tema settlement, whose residents were relocated to Tema Manhean to make way for that development.
Because the acquisition overlapped lands traditionally claimed by both groups, the dispute has lingered ever since most recently flaring in January 2026, when Tema youth protested the redevelopment of the old Meridian Hotel site because of its ancestral significance.
Nungua factions, for their part, maintain that half of the modern Tema lands historically belong to Nungua and that Sakumo, Tema’s supreme deity, originates from Nungua.
Online spaces have since become a virtual battleground, with youth from both sides trading insults in exchanges the Council says now threaten the security of the entire region.
The risk has grown serious enough that Accra Metropolitan University postponed its Dzenten Festival, fearing that tensions between Tema and the Nungua sub-groups the Amanfa and Sanshie could erupt into violence.