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The Kporkporgbor community in the Volta Region has been wiped off Ghana's map with another one, Fuveme also on the verge of being cleared due to high tidal sea waves.

The Kporkporgbor and Fuveme communities used to be adjoining fishing communities within the Atiteti Electoral Area of the Anlo constituency with a population of 813 and 175 households per the 2000 population and housing census of Ghana published in 2005 by the Ghana Statistical Services.

The communities share the Lower Volta estuary with the Ada Township in the Ada West District with the men mainly engaged in fishing while the women undertake fish processing and trade in fish products.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Anlo constituency in the Volta Region, Clement Kofi Humado brought this to the attention of Parliament on Wednesday when he read a statement on the floor of the House and appealed to government and international organizations to assist the people.

Mr. Humado said “in 2014, high tidal sea waves completely destroyed the Kporkporgbor community and the people had to flee to the nearest communities in order to seek shelter.

“As I speak, this community is no more on the map of Ghana. It has been completely lost to the sea. As a result, Anlo constituency has lost one polling station out of its 85. Presently, the adjoining Fuveme community is also under siege by high tidal sea waves which have destroyed more than half of the community with a lot of property and livestock lost,” he added.

The MP stated that the education of more than a hundred school going children has been disrupted and “the people of Fuveme are desperate and feel left to their fate.”

According to him, though the people initially declined to relocate, “it is now obvious that we are about to lose this community also to the sea. The people of Fuveme have now finally agreed to relocate to higher ground nearby and to rebuild their settlement.”

This he said is an emergency and therefore will require the assistance of government and international agencies to provide them with items such as tents, prefabricated dwelling houses, household utilities and conveniences among others.

Mr. Humado, a former Food and Agriculture Minister added that “the Municipal Assembly is prepared to offer any local assistance that will facilitate the work of these agencies in the resettlement of the people of Fuveme and in the rebuilding of their community.”

He said Ghana needs a plan to stabilize the shoreline of the Volta estuary and prevent the redrawing of Ghana's map in the future adding that this also offers an opportunity for the country to build a natural harbor to stabilize the shorelines, facilitate trade and create employment.

The former minister stated that “this will increase trade with the outside world as well as creating an economic hub for Ghana and generating jobs for the people of the area.”

“In the meantime, government needs to recall the Volta River Authority dredger that used to operate regularly in the estuary but has now ceased operations. This will ensure free flow of the river into the sea as well as pumping sand to shore up the remaining settlements in the estuary,” he noted.

Contributing to the statement, a Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Sampson Ahi said the problem was not peculiar to those communities; however government has initiated steps to reduce the effects of tidal waves along the coastal areas.