The Effects of Rural - Urban Migration in Ghana: Empirical Evidence from the Okaishie Community - Greater Accra Region

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1 ISSN: *Patrick Enu Volume 2, Issue 10 Pages: The Effects of Rural - Urban Migration in Ghana: Empirical Evidence from the Okaishie Community - Greater Accra Region Lecturer, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Studies, Methodist University College Ghana, Ablekuma, Accra, Ghana. for correspondence: patrickenu@gmail.com; penu@mucg.edu.gh The study examined the effects of rural-urban migration in Ghana a case study of Okaishie a suburb of the Greater Accra region. The study employed convenience sampling technique. Well-structured questionnaires were used to gather the needed information. It revealed that the majority of the migrants were able bodied youth and majority of them were traders. The migrants main reason for migrating is to seek employment in the urban centers for better living. The other factor that motivated them to migrate from the rural areas to the urban center was access to good social amenities such as good drinking water, access to good and quality health care (hospital), good roads, good and quality education, access to electricity and entertainment. The migrants indicated that their respective villages lack these basic social amenities. Therefore, this study recommends that government should provide employment for the citizens in the rural areas by building more industries to prevent the rural folks from migrating into the urban centers. Also, private institutions can put up other food processing companies in the rural areas to provide employment for the youth. Farmers should be provided with loans for their businesses and extension officers should be sent regularly to the rural areas to educate the farmers on their farming activities for better yields. Finally, the government should provide basic necessities such as housing, education, hospitals, good roads, electricity, good drinking water and others in the rural areas of Ghana. Keywords: Rural Urban Migration, Causes, Effects, Okaishie, Ghana, 416 P a g e

2 INTRODUCTION The main goals of this study are to ascertain the main motivating factors behind the persistent rural urban migration determine the effects of rural urban migration and then make policy recommendations. The study area is Okaishie, a neighborhood within the city limits of Greater Accra Region. Migration is the movement of the active people from one area to another. Migration can be categorized into internal migration and external migration. Internal migration is the free movement of the active people from one area to another within the domestic economy while external migration is the moving of the active individuals from one country to another, say, from Ghana to Canada or from Canada to Ghana. This means that external migration can be of two form immigration and emigration. Immigration is where active individuals travel from another country to the home country while emigration is where the active individual travel from the home country to a foreign country. Individuals migrate internally or externally for a number of reasons. They travel to look for better job, better and successful life, better education, better businesses, stable economic conditions, job opportunities, escape from war, gain citizenship, death of family member, staying away from social pressure and so on. On the other hand, some factors can also retard migration. Some of these factors are transportation cost, migration control and a sudden political unrest. Further understanding of these causes of migration can be learned from Lees s theory of migration, Sjaastad Human investment theory and disciplinary approach. Migration has its own benefits and costs. Some of the benefits are that migrants are able to send money home for family growth and development in terms of housing and schooling. Also, the migrants enjoy new opportunities, better economic condition, safer political conditions and many more. Some of the costs components are migrants might not be welcomed in the new location, behavioral problems, educational difficulties, difficulty in funding health care, loss of labor force in the home country and gain of skilled personnel to the foreign country and so on. According to Ravenstein s Law of migration, one of the principles is that most migrants are rural to urban. This principle seems to apply very well in Ghana. The reason is that most of the migrations that take place within Ghana are from rural to urban centres. Why is it so? Empirical investigation elsewhere has been done on why people or individuals migrate from rural areas to urban areas. Isa Aliyer (2008) found out that people in the rural areas of Azerbaijan migrate because of the lack of employment opportunities, less income sources, poor economic condition, ethnic conflicts, less access to basic public services such as education (being the most reason), poor delivery of energy and water supplies in the rural areas, lack of doctors(15 physicians per 100 residents) and healthcare facilities with electricity, water and gas supplies to the urban centers for better living conditions, more access to basic public services, regular water and energy supply provided by urban areas and new income opportunities. Her findings further indicated that rural-urban migration leads to loss of skilled labor in rural areas, distortion of age and gender balances in rural areas and the serious decline of productivity in the traditional rural sector (As agriculture is one of the most labor-demanding sectors of the economy and this sector lacks productive labor force because of outflow of young and active people). The urban centers on the other hand get cheap labor, which in turn creates opportunities to expand urban sectors such as the industry and the service sector. The urban center is also faced with overpopulation, high crime rates, congestion, and poor delivery of basic services. Aliyer suggested that relevant policies should be developed to manage rural-urban migration in Azerbaijan. To her, there should be a restrictive policy allowing only a limited number of people to move to the capital city and offering a reduced number of rural migrants to work in urban areas. She also suggested that rural areas should be equally developed. There should be provision of adequate financial opportunities for farmers in Azerbaijan, establishment of credit organizations in rural areas, offering long term credits with special discounts and easy loan granting process for rural farmers and business that can have positive effects on rural development and also improvement of rural infrastructure such as roads, energy and water supplies. Machaia (2003) discovered that many factors were responsible for rural-urban migration. In Kenya, for example, these factors included, but not limited to the unbalanced development of the country which favors 417 P a g e

3 certain regions- starting with the major cities of Nairobi and Mombassa and certain rural regions. Cornwell et al (2004) commented on the recent urbanization. He said while migration is a normal element of population growth, in most societies, the scale of movement in developing countries is such that the urban population increase may have undesirable consequences for the overall population and development. In Sahr Eric Nabieu s (2007) study on the analysis of the problems and gains associated with rural-urban migration, the Sierra Leone experience which was submitted to the Union of African Population Studies (UAPS) for the 5 th African Population Conference, Arusha December 2007 with the objective of evaluating the problems encountered by rural urban migrants, their families and the host communities, the following were clearly evident. Eric found out that rural-urban migration in Sierra Leone was caused by civil wars, lack of electricity supply, leaving the rural areas in total darkness, very limited telecommunication facilities, no pipe borne water and lack of employment in the rural areas. This leads to the movement of most rural folks to the urban areas where there are better educational facilities, better hospitals, and better job opportunities are centrally located (thus where most of the country s resources are distributed. He also saw that rural-urban migration poses more challenges than the opportunities it seems to create for migrants, their families and the urban area they migrated to, with some of the challenges being overcrowding and the prevalence of communicable diseases like TB and even the prevalence of malaria, hunger, sexual abuse, malnutrition, accommodation, decline in the development of the agricultural sector and unemployment and underemployment among migrants in the urban areas. Eric suggested that there should be an equal distribution of resources between the rural and urban areas. The neglect of rural masses in East Africa was also more eloquently discussed by the late president Nyerere of Tanzania who had put all his efforts to try and make a better life for his rural men and women. His ideas were clearly outlined in the Arusha Declaration of 1967 and subsequent speeches (Nyerere, 1988). The question that pops up is what are the causes and effects of rural urban migration in Ghana? It is estimated that 96% of Ghana s migrants move within the country, mostly from the poor, rural, Northern areas of the country to the richer, urban, Southern regions (Research Consortium Migration out of Poverty, 2011). Accra is one of the urban areas with a high proportion of both male and female migrants that is 55.4% and these are young adults aged (GLSS5, Ghana Statistical Service, September 2008). Poverty, unemployment, quest for basic amenities like schools, hospital accessible roads, safe drinking water, electricity, sports and entertainment facilities, telecommunication, higher wages, and access to financial opportunities are some factors that cause people to migrate from the rural to the urban areas. Rural-urban migration leads to low productivity in output, hence low Gross Domestic Product (GDP), overcrowding and pressure on social amenities, unemployment and underemployment, increase in social vices and development of slums, and slowing down of development. This is evident in the current floods which occurred in May 2012 (TV3 News) because of poor drainage due to congestion and the recent fire outbreak in August, 01, 2013 (Viasat 1 News) in the railway slum at the Circle. Not forgetting the solid waste disposal in the capital city of Accra, this has become a daunting task for the municipal authorities, who seem to lack the capacity to tackle the mounting waste situation. In their attempt to address development problems, the Provincial, National Defense Council administration introduced the Rural manifesto of 1984 which was to make the very rural areas attractive to prevent the rural folks from moving to the urban areas by the provision of services like electricity, banking services, and pipeborne water, amongst others. Since implementing these services, especially rural electrification began only in the late 1980s, the impact on rural-urban migration was as yet uncertain in the early 1990s. This study looks at the rural-urban migration in Ghana in order to bridge the literature gap on the subject matter and to make suggestions on what should be done to solve the problem. This study is expected to: 1. Ascertain the main motivating factors behind rural-urban migration in Ghana. 2. Determine the effects of rural-urban migration in Ghana. 3. Make suggestions on how to control ruralurban migration in Ghana. 418 P a g e

4 With a high number of people trooping from the rural areas to the urban areas one will ask; 1. What are the major reasons for migrating from the rural areas to the urban areas? 2. How does rural-urban migration affect the urban areas? 3. What are the impacts of rural-urban migration on the country s development? MATERIALS AND METHODS Study Area There are approximately one hundred and twenty (120) neighborhoods within the city limits of Greater Accra. Okaishe is of such communities. Okaishie has an estimated population size of 2,240. The Okaishie area is clustered into business activities such as hard wares, electrical, cosmetics, food, financial institutions plus any other businesses one can think of. Most migrants from rural area come to settle at Okaishie because of its business activities, hence, the choice of Okaishie as the case study area for this study. Research Design It is a descriptive study based on well-structured questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of both open-ended and close-ended questions. The closeended questions aimed at keeping the time limitations for the interviewers. Some of the key questions included in the questionnaire were: Main factors responsible for the migration of the rural folks in the urban areas. Age distribution of migrants, to determine whether the youth, aged, men, women, are the majority that migrate. Main problems encountered by migrants, including their host communities. The study was based on a sample of 100 migrants identified at Okaishie a suburb of Greater Accra Region, Ghana. The sample selection was based on convenience sampling method. This is expected to enable us to have fair idea or knowledge of the main problems encountered by majority of rural migrants to Okaishie a suburb of Greater Accra Region, Ghana which is the most attractive destination for migrants in Ghana. Another benefit of the convenience sampling usage was that it enabled the subjects that were available to participate in the research study and also because of the quickness with which data was gathered. The hand delivery method of data collection was used for the safe delivery and proper answering of the questionnaires, because it helped in the explanation of some items to the respondents who found difficulties in understanding the questionnaire and also to create cordial relationship between the researcher and the respondents. Statistical instruments such as percentages were used in analyzing the data collected. This simplifies the data and facilitates easy reading and understanding of information presented. These were done by collecting the data and rearranging them using spread sheet software (excel). This procedure enabled the research to generate meaningful percentages in order to bring the meaning of the volume of the data collected. The researcher gathered more information from government and nongovernment establishments such as the Ghana Statistical Service, journals, books and internet to improve the quality of the research. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Participants Background Insert Table 1 here Table 1 shows that most of the respondents were between the ages of representing 58%, followed by 26% between the ages of There was a constant ridge between the ages of and represented by 8%. This clearly shows that majority of people who migrate from the rural areas to the urban centers are the able bodied youth who contribute most to the labor force in Ghana. Insert Table 2 here Table 2 shows the gender classification of the respondents. This was to enable the researcher to identify the number of respondents who were males and females. Table 2 shows that females constituted most of the research representing 52 % of the total percentage and the males, 48%. This finding proves that most of the respondents in this study were females and this implies that most females migrate or are likely to migrate from the rural areas to the urban centers as compared to males. This is evident in the number of females who migrate from northern part to work as head potters in Accra. Insert Table 3 here It can be seen from table 3 that, 2% of the respondents were cohabiting, 4% were also divorced. 16% of the respondents were married and 78% of the respondents were single forming the majority. The result gathered 419 P a g e

5 shows that most of the respondents were single and even the married ones got married after their migration. This means that majority of the respondents are people who are starting their lives and yet to have a family of their own. This implies that these unmarried youth will need to have jobs to hold on to before they can successfully start new families in the future hence migrating from the rural area to get better jobs in the urban area. Insert Table 4 here The study also revealed that most of the respondents were without children represented by 64% and the remaining 36% were with children. This means that people without children are the most likely to migrate from the rural areas to the urban centers to get better jobs before starting a family so they can take care of themselves as well as their families. Insert Table 5 here Table 5 indicates that 2% of the respondents were unemployed, 18% were students who have migrated from their previous places, because of the lack of such institutions, 24% civil servants who have migrated because of the lack of white collar jobs in the rural areas they migrated from and traders ranging from news vendors, hawkers, shop keepers, shoe makers, kayayoo s, caterers and among others being the majority represented by 56%. This implies that majority of the migrants who migrate from the rural area to the urban center get jobs with most of them involved in petty trading. Insert Table 6 here Table 6 indicates that with respect to respondent s educational qualification, 10% of them are uneducated, 22% of them have secondary school certificate, 28% first degree and 40% of them have basic school certificate representing the majority. This means that most of the respondents are basic school graduates. Insert Table 7 here Table 7 shows that majority of the respondents are migrants who have migrated from rural areas and this is represented by 96% of the total percentage. The remaining 4% were residents of Accra (Okaishie). This indicates that a lot of people are migrating from the rural areas to the urban areas for better opportunities because of the lack of employment and basic social amenities. Insert Table 8 here Table 8 reveals that most of the respondents migrated years ago representing 60% of the total population, 18% of them migrated months ago, 2% of the respondents weeks ago and 20% of the respondents migrated only days ago, showing that people are still migrating dayin and day-out from the rural areas to the urban areas because there are not enough jobs in the rural areas and also the rural areas lack basic social amenities like schools, hospitals amongst others. CAUSES OF RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION Insert Table 9 here Table 9 shows that 9% of the respondents were from the city, 83% were from villages and 8% of them were from towns. From the findings, it is evident that a lot of people migrate from the rural areas to the urban areas and this is mainly due to the lack of employment in the rural areas and limited access to basic amenities such as schools, hospitals only to mention a few. Insert Table 10 here When the respondents were asked their reason for moving to the urban areas, 18% were of the view that they moved to further their education since where they were previously does not have institutions for performing those task. 7% moved to visit their relatives or friends or for pleasure and 75% for employment. Thus the bulk of people migrate from the rural areas to the urban areas for employment. This is because there are not enough jobs in the rural areas and also because of the agricultural nature of the jobs in the rural areas. Most of these jobs are seasonal; hence the rural folks are unemployed most of the time. The few educated ones are also attracted to the urban area because of the lower wages in the rural areas. Insert Table 11 here Table 11 shows that before migration, 15% of the respondents were not involved in any activity, 25% were students, 10% were traders, 3% galamsey operators, 7% were involved in carpentry works, 3% were caterers, 30% were farmers, 2% seamstresses and 5% were involved in construction works. These people were attracted to the cities because they think they can get better education and generate more income in the urban centers than in their rural areas since the income level in the rural area is very low. Insert Table 12 here When asked the social amenities that were available in their previous place of residence, 40% of the respondents said they had basic schools and secondary schools, 20% electricity, 12% portable drinking water, 420 P a g e

6 9% hospitals, 11% good and accessible roads, 5% tertiary institutions and 3% said they had entertainment facilities. This implies that the rural areas lack most basic amenities of life. Insert Table 13 here Table 13 reveals that the most lacked social amenities in the previous residence of the respondents were tertiary institutions being represented by 25%, portable drinking water 20%, good and accessible roads 18%, hospitals 15%, entertainment facilities 10%, electricity 7% and basic and secondary school represented by 5% of the respondents. This is an indication that the provision of basic amenities is skewed towards the urban center, making rural-urban migration an expected objective of the many rural active residents. EFFECTS OF RURAL URBAN MIGRATION Insert Table 14 here Table 14 clearly shows that when the respondents were asked the three difficulties they encounter in the urban area as long as access to good social amenities is concerned, 23.33% indicated water problems, 13.33% regular light fluctuations, 7.67% floods, 33.33% accommodation, 0.67% poor road networks, 16.67% places of convenience and 5% poor LPG supply. This is an indication that since there are too many people in the urban area, the social amenities there are not enough for all of them hence there is too much pressure on the ones that are available. Furthermore, most of the migrants have to sleep outside because they do not have anywhere to sleep or are ejected from their houses with a lot more of them living in slums creating congestion, poor drainage, floods and filth. Also there are not much places of convenience hence a lot of people have to take their bath and ease themselves in public places, gutters, at the rubbish dump and along beaches causing environmental and health problems. Insert Table 15 here The researcher posed a question to the respondents whether or not their Socio-economic lives has been better off since their migration, 84% were of the view that their socio-economic lives has been better off since their migration and 6% thought otherwise. 10% gave no response. It can be deduced that most migrants became better off than they were when they migrated from their rural areas to the urban centers. Insert Table 16 here Education Table 16 shows that 52% of the respondents were of the view that since their migration, their socio-economic life in terms of education has not improved and 28% said that theirs have improved. 20% gave no response. Hence majority of the respondent s education did not improve after they migrated. Healthcare Respondents were asked if their healthcare has improved since their migration and from table 16, 58% of the respondents representing the majority were of the view that their healthcare has improved since their migration, 20% thinking otherwise and 22% giving no response. This shows that healthcare delivery in the urban centers are better than in the rural areas and most rural areas do not have hospitals which means the rural folks have to travel all the way to the urban areas when they or their relatives are seriously ill. Income From table 16, 16% of the respondents indicated that their income level has not improved and 78% indicated that their income level has improved since their migration. 6% of the respondents did not answer. It can be concluded that majority of the people that migrate from rural to urban areas earn more than they used to before their migration. Shelter 30% of the respondents according to Table 16 were of the view that their Socio-economic life in terms of shelter has improved. Majority of them represented by 60% said their socio-economic life in terms of shelter has not improved. Most of the migrants had to sleep outside, in front of shops, in cars only to mention a few for years before they could get a better place to stay. Most of them put up structures anywhere creating slums leading to floods, filth, poor drainage systems and among others. 10% of the respondents gave no answer. Entertainment Table 16 shows that a lot has improved in terms of entertainment for the migrants and this is represented by 68% indicating Improved. 22% indicated Not improved 10% did not respond at all. It is therefore evident that most rural areas do not have entertainment facilities. 421 P a g e

7 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS The research was made to investigate the effects of rural-urban migration in Ghana with Accra being the case study. In assessing the topic of the study, questionnaires were sent out to migrants in Accra. The following were deduced from their response: From the findings, 58% out of the 100 respondents were aged between years and 26% between years. This clearly shows that most of the people that migrate from the rural areas are the able bodied youth who contribute the most of the labor force leaving behind the old and the children who cannot work thereby reducing productivity and hence national output. Also from the study, out of 100 respondents, 56% of them were traders and 24% civil servants. When asked about their reason for moving to the urban area, 75% of the respondents representing the majority were of the view that they moved because of employment since most of the jobs in the rural areas are farm work and informal. The income that is generated from these jobs too is also meager. The survey further went on to ask respondents the most lacked social amenities in the rural areas. 15% of the respondents indicated hospital, 20% portable water, 18% good and accessible roads, 25% tertiary institutions, 7% electricity, 5% basic and secondary schools and 10% of the respondents indicated entertainment facilities. This means that most rural areas lack the basic amenities making rural-urban migration unavoidable since the urban areas have easy access to all these amenities. The socio-economic life of the respondents after their migration was also examined. From the findings, out of the 100 respondents, 28% said their socio-economic life in terms of education has improved and 52% said theirs has not improved. 58% said healthcare delivery has improved after their migration since they did not have hospitals in their previous residence and 20% said it has not. 78% were of the view that their income levels has improved because they are generating more income after migrating from the rural area to the urban center whiles 16% were of the view that their income levels has not improved. Majority of the respondents made it clear that their socio-economic life in terms of shelter has not improved and this is indicated by 60%. This is because most of them still have to sleep outside and in cars. Also a lot of them have to live in slums since they cannot afford to rent a house and some of them too are ejected from their houses. 30% of the respondents thought otherwise. It is also obvious that most of the respondent s life in terms of entertainment has improved with 68% indicating improved and 22% not improved. Recommendations Based on the findings, the following recommendations are made: Rural-urban migration slows down the rate of development of the rural areas. In view of the negative consequences, government of each country in the world, more particularly in Ghana, should strive to provide social amenities and facilities in the rural areas. More generally, government should invest in education and access to technology and social infrastructure in rural areas so that the rural residents can enjoy the same facilities as city dwellers. Government should provide employment for the citizens in the rural areas. More industries should be allocated in the rural areas to prevent the rural folks from migrating into the urban centers. Private institutions can also put up companies like fruit processing and others in the rural areas to provide employment for the youth there. Farmers should be provided with loans for their businesses and extension officers should be sent regularly to the rural areas to educate the farmers. Vocational training centers should be established in the rural centers for training of the productive youths for self-employment. Those youths that pass out of the vocational training centers should be given microloans as a start-up capital. Some rural development policies are initiated and run by bureaucrats who live in the capital cities and who have limited knowledge of the communities affected by their policies. A system of accountability should be instituted in which the career advancements of the incumbent of public offices would be tied to the success of their programmes. With the possibility of demolition, job loss, or even criminal prosecution looming over their heads, public officials will be careful in the allocation of contracts and the supervision of rural projects. The end result will be to eliminate fraud, waste and importantly speed up rural and national development. 422 P a g e

8 REFERENCES Barke, M., and O Hare, G. (1991). The Conceptual Framework in Geography. 2 nd Edition. Oliver and Boyd. Boyle, P., Halfacree, K., and Robinson, V. (1998). Exploring Contemporary Migration. London, Longman. Bilsborrow, R. E., Oberai, A.S., and Standing, G. (1984, eds.) Migration Surveys in Low-Income Countries, Croom Helm, London and Sydney. Brettell, C.B. (2000). Theorizing Migration in Anthropology. InC.B. Brettell and J. F. Hollifield (Eds.), Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines. New York: Routledge. Browning, Harley, L and Feindt, W. (1969). Selectivity of Migrants to a Metropolis in a Developing country: A Mexican Case Study, in Demography, 6 (4), pp: Cornwell, K., and Inder, B. (2004). Migration and Unemployment in South Africa: When Motivation Surpasses the Theory of Working Paper 02/04 Monash University. Gmelch, G., and Zenner, W.P. (1996). Urban Life: Readings in Urban Anthropology. Third Edition. USA: Waveland Press InC. Harrison, P. (1993). Inside the Third World: the Autonomy of Poverty. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. Lee, E.S. (1966). Theory of Migration in M. Kefyfitz (ed.), Demography, vol. 3, No. 1. A Publication of America. Lewis, G. (1982). Human Migration: A Geographical Perspective. London: Croom Helm. Lewis, W.A. (1954). Economic Development with unlimted Supplies of Labour. Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 22: Lipton, M. (1976). Migration from Rural Areas of Poor Countries. The Impact on Rural Productivity and Income Distribution. Paper presented at Research Workshop on Rural LabourMarket Interactions, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Washington, D.C. Mabogunje ( System Approach to a Theory of Rural-Urban Migration in Jones, E., Readings in Social Geography. London: Oxford University Press. Machaia (2003). Migration in Kenya, an Impact on the Labour Market. American University, United States of America. Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Konaouci, A., Taylor, J.E. (1998). Works in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the end of the Millennium. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Monstead, M., and Walji, P. (1978). A Demographic Analysis of East Africa: A Sociological Interpretation. Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Nyerere, (1988). Let Us Pay Heed to the Peasant in the Neyerere, Urbanization of the Third World, ed, by J. Gurgler, Oxford, Oxford University Presss Jackson, J. A. (1986). Migration, London: Longman. Jansen, C. J. (1969). Some Sociological Aspects of Migration in Jackson, J. A. (ed). Migration, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ravenstein, E. G. The Laws of Migration Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. (1889). 52: Rhoda, R.E. (1979). Development Activities and Rural- Urban Migration: Is it possible to keep Them Down on the Farm. Washington, D.C. Office of Urban Development. Ritchey, P.N. (1976). Explanations of Migration. Annual Review of Sociology, 2: Sahr Eric Nabieu (2007). Analysis of the Problems and Gains associated with Rural-Uban Migration, the Sierra Leone experience, Submitted to the Union of African Population Studies (UAPS), for the 5 th African Population Conference, Arusha December Sjaastad, L. (1962). The Costs and Returns of Human Migration. Journal of Political Economy, 70 (5), pp: Todaro, M. (1969). Education and Rural Urban Migration in Less Developed Countries in Rhoda, R.E, (1979), Development Activities and Rural-Urban Migration. Washington, D.C: Office of Urban Development. Todaro, M. P. (1969). A Model of Labour Migration and Urban Unemployment in less Developed Countries in Bilsborrow, R.E., et al., (1984), Migration Surveys in Low income Countries: Guidelines for Surveys and Questionnaire Design Sydney. Croom Helm Ltd. Westley, J., et al. (2001). Rural Poverty Report. New York, Oxford University Press. Wood, Charles H. (1982). Equilibrium and Historical- Structural Perspectives on Migration. International Migration Review, 16 (2), pp: P a g e

9 Table 1 Age Distribution of Respondents RANGES FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Table 2 Gender of Respondents SEX FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Male Female Table 3 Respondent s Marital Status MARITAL STATUS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Single Married Divorced Cohabit Table 4 Do You Have Children OPTIONS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Yes No Table 5 Occupation of Respondents OCCUPATIONS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Trader Civil servant Student Unemployed P a g e

10 Table 6 Respondent s Highest Educational Qualification LEVELS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Basic School Secondary/ O level Tertiary Uneducated Table 7 Is Accra (Okaishie) Your Hometown or Permanent Place of Residence? OPTIONS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Yes No Source: Author s Computation, 2014 Table 8 If No When Was Your First Time of Coming To Accra (Okaishie)? Specify. PERIODS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Days Weeks Months Years Table 9 How Will You Describe Your Previous Place Of Residence? PLACES FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) City Town Village P a g e

11 Table 10 What Was Your Reason(s) For Moving To Accra (Okaishie)? REASONS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Education Employment Medical Treatment Visit Or Pleasure Table 11 What Major Income Generating Activity Were You Involved In Before Moving To Accra (Okaishie)? ACTIVITY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%) Nothing Student Trader Galamsey Carpentry Catering Farmer Seamstress Construction Works Table 12 What Was The Most Available Social Amenity in Your Previous Place of Residence? Specify. SOCIAL AMENITY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%) Hospital Portable Drinking Water Good And Accessible Roads Tertiary Institutions Electricity Basic And Secondary Schools Entertainment Facilities P a g e

12 Table 13 What was The Most Lacked Social Amenity in Your Previous Place of Residence? Specify SOCIAL AMENITY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%) Hospital Portable Drinking Water Good And Accessible Roads Tertiary Institutions Electricity Basic And Secondary Schools Entertainment Facilities Table 14 Can You Tell Me Three Difficulties You Encounter in Accra (Okaishie) Currently as Long as Access to Good Social Amenities Is Concerned? SOCIAL AMENITIES FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%) Water problems Regular light fluctuations Floods Accommodation Poor road networks Places of convenience Poor LPG supply 15 5 Table 15 Has your Socio- Economic Life been better off since your Migration? OPTIONS FREQUENCY PERCENT (%) Yes No No Response Source: Author s computation, P a g e

13 OPTIONS Table 16 Which Aspect Of Your Socio-Economic Life Has Changed? EDUCATION HEALTHCARE INCOME SHELTER ENTERTAINMENT Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Improved Not Improved No Response P a g e