The Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has stated that, sand winning activities are becoming a major national disaster issue that are threatening lives and property in most coastal communities in the country, particularly those in the Volta Region.
He has therefore appealed to his colleague Members of Parliament (MPs), Local Assemblies and other stakeholders, to work together to tackle the menace from escalating and not to play partisan politics with it.
“As a result of sand winning activities in coastal communities in areas such as Aflao, Keta Municipality and the Ketu Municipality, the people in those areas are becoming more vulnerable to the unbearable impact of tidal waves,” he said.
Bemoaning the disastrous effects of sand winning along Ghana’s coastal belt, the Deputy Majority Leader, who doubles as the MP for Effutu, charged his colleagues saying, “Let’s find a solution together “
Addressing the press at a press conference organized by the Majority Side in Parliament last Friday, Hon. Afenyo-Markin said, “Much as the government is making effort to provide relief, the relief items are themselves not the solution to the menace.”
“This is why I am appealing to the stakeholders in the Volta Region to work together with those involved in sand winning activities, which are making the people in the Keta coastal communities more vulnerable to the devastating effects of the tidal waves,” he charged, adding that, “and it will cost the nation more money in terms of recovery and resetting the affected persons.”
He showed a photo depicting sand winning activities in the Sierra Leonean coastal areas, which have contributed immensely to the destruction of lives and property along that country’s coastline, as a proof of what the people in the Keta areas would likely face if they do not stop the activities of sand winning in that part of the country, especially as they are currently under the vociferous attacks of the sea’s tidal waves.
He said this by making an analogy and comparison with the fate that has befallen the residents of Sierra Leone’s coastline as a result of sand winning activities along that country’s coastline.
National Disaster:
Buttressing his argument that, sand winning had contributed to the current devastation of the tidal waves in Keta and other constituencies in the Volta Region, the Deputy Majority Leader said, it was on record that, the first major intervention made to tackle tidal waves in Keta was during the former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s era.
He said, again in 2015, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) initiated the Keta Sea Defence project but it was the current government that completed the project.
“So, I am calling on our colleagues in the Volta Region to look at these tidal waves as a national disaster and not look out for scoring cheap political points, because obviously, we never heard them talk about human activities going on at the Keta area, which have led to and contributed immensely to the unbearable effects of what we are seeing today.”
“If political actors in the Volta Region had been more responsive, we would not be seeing the devastating effect of tidal waves that we are seeing today,” he said.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin also said that: “Parts of Keta’s sandy earth have been swept away and transported by natural forces of the tidal waves during sea erosions,” he said.
Supporting the critical issues raised by the Effutu MP on the devastating effects of sand winning along Ghana’s coastline, and speaking on behalf of the Volta MPs’ Caucus, Mr. Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor however disputed the magnitude of the sand winning activities being referred to by the Hon. Afenyo-Markin, but he was quick to add that, “I am however not trying to underrate the relevance of denigrating our coastline as a result of sand winning but to say that, the lives of over 4,000 people were destroyed by tidal waves as a result of sand winning is unacceptable.”
