By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Dec. 31, GNA - Awudum, a suburb of Tema Newtown in the Tema Metropolis, will soon be remembered only in folklore if the rate at which the sea is eroding the community continues.
The once vibrant fishing community is now a pale shadow of its self as it suffers most along the Tema coastline now besieged by the sea.
A visit to the community by the Ghana News Agency revealed a number of buildings virtually hanging and wavering on a slope only waiting to collopse as the tidal waves battered their foundations relentlessly.
While some of these houses were still occupied by late settlers such as Fantes, Ewes and Dangmes, some indigenes also lived in the collapsing houses.
Residents had piled sand bags, used vehicle tyres and even heaps of refuse in a feeble and desperate attempt to stop the invading tidal waves.
The residents had therefore called on government build a sea defence along the stretch which span from behind the Eastern Naval Base to beyond U-Compound, a community near Awudum.
Mr Joseph Ashitey, Chairman of the Tema East Sub Metro, told the GNA that more than 100 houses had already been washed into the sea adding that over thirty years ago when the erosion started, those whose houses which were affected at the time were relocated to Tema Manhean by government.
Mr Ashitey, who is also a member of the Tema Traditional Council, added that after three decades, a promise by government to construct a sea defense in the area after the relocation had not materialized, a situation which had led to the sea erosion and land loss.
“The Traditional Council has pleaded with government to build a sea defense for us but we are still waiting, if nothing is done about it, one day it will erode even parts of the Naval Base”.
Mr Ashitey Lartey, a resident and a native, said he had stayed in the area for about 50 years and witnessed the relocation of other residents to Tema Manhean but he stayed in the community because at the time his house was far away from the sea.
Mr Lartey said unfortunately, since no solution had been found to the erosion problem, his house was now a stone throw from the sea, a situation he feared would one day force him to relocate .
Mr Frank Asante, Public Relations Officer, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, who grew up in the community reminisced how he and his cousins played among the coconut trees that lined the Awudum beach which spanned Kpowulunor, which was adjacent the Naval base through to ‘Brazilian House’ back then.
Mr Asante feared his maternal grandmother’s house in the community will disappear into the sea in the next ten years if nothing concrete was done to arrest the erosion.
He added that in some few years to come, the Tema Manhean beach drive would also be consumed by the very sea that gave them daily bread.
He however stated that the Ports and Harbours Sub Committee of the TMA was working on a comprehensive report on the issue for the consideration of the Assembly adding that other stakeholders could partner the Assembly to save the community.
GNA
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