Old Accra, New Voices

Ga Mashie–Old Accra is an urban coastal community stretching across approximately 98 hectares.

Ga Mashie–Old Accra is an urban coastal community stretching across approximately 98 hectares. It is bounded to the west by the Korle Lagoon and to the north and east by Accra’s industrial and business districts (Grant & Yankson, 2003). Jamestown is one of the two communities that make up Ga Mashie—the other is Ussher Town—and sits about 2.5 km west of Christiansborg Castle and the Marine Drive project.

Old Accra’s rise as an urban centre is tied to the relocation of the colonial administration from Cape Coast to Accra in 1877 (Grant & Yankson, 2003). Although it remains one of the least planned and least developed neighbourhoods in Accra, it has expanded from a small 19th-century trading post into a dense, complex urban space made up of:

- Indigenous Ga people, the earliest settlers of the area

- Migrants from neighbouring coastal communities

- Returned Tabon slaves

- The Nigerian “Allada” community, originally hired to help construct Ussher Fort and James Fort

This blend has produced what scholars describe as a mosaic culture—a layered community shaped by migrants, immigrants, and returnees (Alcione & Ayesu, 2002; Parker, 2000; Quayson, 2014; Wellington, 2011).