ADA DESERVES BETTER (AUGUST 20, 2010)

THE havoc caused by sea erosion in Ada is assuming an alarming proportion, as the sea waves continuously ravage human settlements, causing indigenes to be scattered and left with a few options.
In Ada, the mention of a sea defence project may not generate good response. This is because the people have been left without any clues as to what has hampered a project that for years has only existed in name.
For more than a decade, the promise of building the ‘Ada Sea Defence Wall’ has never materialised. Certainly, the people of Ada have cause to complain.
Today, the DAILY GRAPHIC uses its centre spread to throw some spotlight on a coastal village in Azizanya near Ada Foah in the Dangme East District of the Greater Accra Region.
Azizanya has virtually been “eaten up” by the consuming sea waves which appear unstoppable without a fortress in the form of a sea wall.
Azizanya is located on the edge of a land which is along the Ada Peninsula and is one of 25 coastal settlements in Ghana that some experts believe will be swallowed by the ocean within decades.
Indeed, by the day, Azizanya is becoming a ghost town.
Governments over the years had expressed a strong commitment to building the sea defence wall. However, that commitment has not been given any practical expression.
The issue of high tidal waves along Ghana’s coastal area is troubling. Many coastal communities in the country have been submerged by high tidal waves and one study predicts that even the seat of government, the Osu Castle, may not be spared by the rising sea levels in the not too distant future.
According to the study by the Oceanography and Fisheries Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, the current rate of climate change has made coastal erosion a pressing issue that must be effectively addressed.
Indeed, global warming is generally acknowledged in Ghana as a threat that must be addressed to save the environment. Yet, there are many questions about the efforts to bring practical meaning to that commitment, especially when human activities that fester its intensity are being carelessly held onto.
While the contribution of global warming to rising sea levels and also sea erosion has been well-documented, one cannot discount activities such as sand-winning that tend to make coastal areas more vulnerable to rampaging sea waves.
At Ada, the threat of sand-winning has not been effectively dealt with over the years and that, no doubt, accounts for some of the woes of settlers along coastal communities in the area.
The issue of sand-winning has been a thorny one for decades as efforts to address the situation have been very difficult. Private individuals working in the construction industry have found sand-winning along the coast a profitable venture.
It is sad that a country that has consistently emphasised the need to check the activities of those who degrade the environment and even gone further to institute measures to address that threat is finding it difficult to control those activities.
It appears beyond expressing commitments, institutions tasked to address such issues have failed to discharge their duties as expected.
While urging such institutions to be up and doing, the DAILY GRAPHIC also believes that the responsibility of checking such activities must be actively taken up by every Ghanaian.