Members of Parliament have called on the government to take urgent steps to deliver on its promise to implement the Second Phase of the Keta Sea Defence Project for residents in the Keta constituency and surroundings in the Volta Region.
They contend that the matter is a national crisis and any further delay in the project will lead to severe destruction of properties, which in effect will render residents homeless.
The MPs also fear that if urgent action is not taken for the Sea Defence Wall to be completed at the earliest possible time, the communities risk being washed away.
The lawmakers expressed these fears following a statement made on the floor on Tuesday by the MP for Ho West, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, after at least 3,000 people in the Keta Municipality were rendered homeless after tidal waves swept through their homes on the dawn of Sunday, 7th November.
“The over three thousand people that have been displaced by the flooding in the communities in the Ketu South, Keta and Anlo constituencies in the Volta Region are in urgent need of food, clothes, medicines, and shelter to cope with the traumatized situation that has befallen them,” Mr. Bedzrah said.
Communities such as Abutiakope, Kedzikope and Dzelukope are largely affected as homeless residents were left with nothing to salvage while residents of Anloga, Dzita, Agbledomi, Atiteti, Agokedzi, and Fuveme were also displaced by the fierce tidal waves that swept through the communities.
The Member of Parliament for the Ketu South constituency, Dzifa Abla Gomashie, has raised alarm over what she described as a humanitarian crisis following the impact of the tidal waves and was unhappy that the Sea Defence Project had been abandoned by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
She is demanding urgent attention from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in relation to the completion of the Sea Defence Project in the Volta Region,
She also said the government must ensure the Sea Defence Wall is extended to protect the communities.
The Ketu South MP called for immediate humanitarian intervention, and also warned of total destruction of part of the major road linking Ghana and Togo through the area if the Sea Defence Wall is not constructed soon.
She said she really appreciated the fact that over the years all governments add a little to the Sea Defence Project, but lamented it has been quite a while that something has been done.
She posited that what the constituents are looking at is not only the houses and things that can be saved, but also the main road between Aflao and Keta that risk being washed away by the next tidal wave when it hits again.
The Second Deputy Speaker Andrew Amoako Asiamah referring the matter to the Committee of Works and Housing urged the affected persons and communities to remain calm as the Committee and the Minister responsible for Works and Housing and the Central Government work at resolving their challenges.