Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Nyamah, has intimated that the permanent solution for the affected communities in the Volta Region due to the tidal waves is to relocate them to a higher and safer settlement away from the sea.
Mr. Nyamah speaking on the damage caused by the waves indicated that, the calls for the extension of the sea defense levee in Keta and its environs against the sea is ideal but admitted it takes time to build such infrastructure.
“In the worst-case scenario where global warming is at its worst, the sea defense might not be of much help. So, the whole idea of relocating them to a higher ground should be revisited”.
Richard Nyamah
According to Mr. Nyamah, government can erect the sea defense wall and the sea will still breach it to flood the homes of residents of the area, especially at a period where global warming is having its effect on the world.
Engage with affected communities
Mr. Nyamah admonished the government to go to the affected communities to engage with their leaders and MPs. This, he said,; will help convince them that the money that will be used to build the sea levee would rather be used to build a new settlement for the people to relocate there,;whilst government tries to resolve the perennial issue of the tidal waves.
“This is an annual affair and I remember when that issue came up,;it was down to ancestral linkages,;the fact that their ancestors are buried there, their gods are there, they cannot go and leave them. And I have been wondering what as a state, we have been doing since to engage them to back off that stance. …that for me is a permanent solution because you can actually do the defense wall and it can still be breached”. Also
Richard Nyamah
Tidal wave: Ketu MCE appeals to persons in communities to desist from sand mining
Mr. Nyamah posited that in order to solve the tidal wave issues and also climate change issues that is bedeviling the world, especially Ghana, tree planting exercises should be undertaken in the area.
“There should be a day in the month that government will set for tree planting just as it is done for cleaning. So that, everybody will go for a seedling at a designated place by government to grow in their communities”.
Richard Nyamah
Keta tidal waves destruction
Tidal waves have displaced several residents in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region.
The tidal waves that affected Keta and its environs on Saturday,;November 6, 2021 has destroyed properties and rendered about 700 people homeless in the area. The affected communities include Kedzikope,; Keta Central and Abutiakope.
The residents were forced out of their homes and rendered homeless while others salvaged some of their belongings onto portions of the main road waiting for the water to recede. The frequency of tidal wave attacks along coastal towns in the country has intensified; a phenomenon some have blamed on climate change and have as such called for sea defense walls to help reduce the extent of damage it causes.