The Keta Municipal Assembly at an emergency Municipal Security meeting on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, placed a ban on sand mining activities at its beaches with immediate effect and until further notice.
The ban is part of measures adopted by the municipal assembly, to curb sea erosion that has been blamed largely for the recent tidal waves that wrecked peoples’ homes in that enclave.
Speaking to Citi News, the Municipal Chief Executive, Emmanuel Gemegah, said: “further stakeholder engagements would be held in the coming days to either enforce an outright ban or regulate sand winning and its related activities”.
“Anyone who wants to mine sand at the beach must have an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit,” he added.
A taskforce has been formed to enforce the ban.
The 16 member committee is made up of heads of the various security agencies in the area, some assembly members and other allied agencies clothed with the mandate to arrest and prosecute persons found culpable.
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He said, “we are halting the sand winning activity while we look forward to further deliberate on their mode of operation which must be legal according to the law”.
He added that “anyone currently undertaking construction works should look elsewhere for sand to advance their project”.
The Keta and Ketu South municipalities and the Anlo district were hard hit by tidal waves last Saturday, rendering over a thousand residents homeless.
School activities at Fuveme basic school came to a standstill when the ravaging sea collapsed their school building at its new location.
Tidal wave has been a perennial occurrence along the country’s eastern coastline over decades.
This situation has been blamed on climate change and human activities, including indiscriminate sand winning activities.
