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GHANA WEATHER

Successive Govts. chastised for not completing Sea Defence Walls

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By Henrietta Afful

Panelists on GTV’s Breakfast Show have asked why Sea Defense Walls in the country have not been completed though their construction dates back to late former President Jerry John Rawlings’ era.

Their comments follow reports of the sea washing away homes along some communities in the Keta and Ketu Municipalities of the Volta Region since Sunday, November 7, 2021.

The tidal waves submerged communities and rendered more than a thousand people homeless.

Speaking on the issue, a Governance Expert and Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Dr. Eric Oduro Osae said, world leaders are now strategizing to mitigate the effects of Climate Change at the ongoing COP26 Summit in Glasgow because, the effect of climate change is unavoidable.

Dr Eric Oduro Osae said climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience strategies are very critical to every nation and Ghana must take cognizance of that.

He said even though Ghana as a country has signed on to some climate change treaties such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a means to combat dangerous human interference with the climate system, the country needs to do more.

“The challenge I have with this country is that we start something and then we end midway. Unless there is a big issue before we go back to revisit it,” Dr Eric Oduro Osae lamented.

He questioned that Sea Defense which started long ago has not been completed regardless of the fact that tidal waves are bound to happen.

He said Ghana is only waiting for the developed countries to come to her aid and that should not be the case.

He said though the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol call for industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also tasked industrialized countries under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities” to support developing countries to mitigate the effects of climate change, that should not be the basis for Ghana to sit down and wait.

He noted that people are dying and Ghana needs to act fast.

Making recommendations, Dr Eric Oduro Osae said: “I think that we should be more forward looking, what we have started, we should continue. People are dying now! What is the immediate short-term measure that can be put in place and then we take our time to do the sea defence wall.”

He said sand winning in the affected communities must be halted. He charged the Local Government and District Assemblies to up their game to resolve the issue.

“We should not hide under the common but differentiated responsibility and expect the developed countries to come to our aid.”

He noted that time is of essence and Ghana needs to tackle the issues head on.
“We need immediate short, medium to long term measures. We should not wait for external development partner support. We need to mobilise resources to address the issue” Dr Oduro Osae added.

For his part, Dean of the UPSA School of Graduate Studies, Dr. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, said the inability of authorities to address and construct major sea defence walls as a major contributing factor of tidal waves hitting some communities in parts of the Volta Region and all the issues it has brought with.

“Where we develop a country with manifestos, this is what happens” he added.

He said Western countries will not come to the aid of Ghanaians and so Ghana must mobilise resources to solve the issue of tidal waves.

“The West will not invest in your sanitation. The West will not bring their money for you to construct your drainage. No. They are investors. Whenever they are committing their monies, their main objective is to get some returns on their investment” Dr Mawutor said.

He said the construction of the Keta Defense wall dates back to when he was a child and expressed shock as to why it still has not been completed.

He said Ghana needs a national plan that would make the construction of the sea defense a priority.

Dr Eric Mawutor said a national development plan would ensure that governments remain committed to the national agenda by making budgetary allocations to that effect.

He said Ghana in particular and Africa at large would continue to be the residual of the negative effects of climate change because we have failed to plan.

“We don’t have any serious technology to mitigate the effects of climate change in our various economies” Dr Mawutor added.

He said with the $100 billion a year commitment by rich nations to help developing countries adapt to climate change yet to be realized, the effects of climate change will be dire.

He noted that the issue of climate change needs a concerted effort if it is to be addressed.

The views were expressed on GTV’s Breakfast Show on Tuesday, November 9, 2021

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