Tidal waves: Relocation is the solution – Nyamah

Deputy communications director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Richard Nyamah, has described the calls for the extension of the sea defence levee in Keta and its environs against the sea as a “no brainer” but he admits it takes time to build such infrastructure.

According to Mr. Nyamah, the permanent solution for the affected communities in the Volta Region is to relocate them to a higher and safer settlement away from the havoc of the sea.

He said the government can erect the sea defence wall and the sea will still breach it to flood the homes of residents of the area, especially at this period where global warming is having its effect on the world.

Mr. Nyamah pointed it out to the government to revisit the idea of relocating the people of the tidal-ridden communities to safer and higher ground as proposed by preceding governments in the country, as that, to him would be the permanent solution to curb any disaster.

He admonished the government to go to the affected communities to engage with their leaders and MPs in order to convince them to the effect that the money that will be used to build the sea levee should 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.

Mr. Nyamah proffered a solution to the climate change issue that is bedeviling the world, especially Ghana by saying 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 the government to grow in their communities.

He said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on TV3, Monday, November 8, on the heels of the tidal waves that affected Keta and its environs on Saturday, November 6, that has destroyed properties and rendered about 700 people homeless in the area.

“This is an annual affair and I remember when that issue came up, it was down to ancestral lineages, 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 because that for me is a permanent solution because you can actually do the defence wall and it can still be breached.

“In the worst-case scenario where global warming is at its worst, the sea defence might not be of much help. So the whole idea of relocating them to higher grounds should be revisited,” he admonished on the New Day.