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The Volta Region in 2021 gained its major spotlight from hosting the fifth Volta Trade and Investment Fair, with a thematic focus around the untapped ICT, agriculture and tourism sectors in the region.

With the participation of over 300 foreign and indigenous micro small and medium scale enterprises, the regional capital, Ho, where they pitched camp, became the central point for prominent personalities including diplomats, business magnates, politicians and members of the legislature who were all at different points offered the platform to participate in the fair.

The two-week fair featured a gamut of side attractions including business support services, investment and match making sessions, among others.

Ho to Accra by air

A week after the fair and its huge patronage, domestic airline, PassionAir, commenced flight operations on December 4, 2021 with an Accra-Ho flight.

The airline in July 2021 operated a demonstration flight to Ho in order to ascertain the technical performance of the aircraft to the Ho Airport.

The company said its operation in Ho was in fulfillment of its goal and commitment to seamlessly connect destinations within Ghana with the ultimate aim of boosting the domestic travel market in the country.

Several business operators have hailed the move and described it as 'smart' since the region was gradually becoming a business and tourism hub.

Destruction of monkey sanctuary
 
A heavy downpour in October 2021 destroyed several homes in the Tafi Atome community in the Afadzato South District in the Volta Region.

The raging storm did not spare one of the most popular tourist sites in the country— the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary and Cultural Village Centre.

Several trees were uprooted at the site, while others blocked the main entrance to the sanctuary.

Even though the monkeys were unscathed, the forest was left flooded, reducing the living spaces in their habitat, which called for urgent replanting of some of the trees including the trees on which they fed.

Nominee rejections

The Adaklu and Akatsi North district assemblies came under the spotlight as the only two districts in the Volta Region without substantive chief executives.

The two districts for the fifth time failed to confirm their re-nominated nominees as district chief executives.

A former DCE, Mr Phanuel Donkor, whose nomination was retained for Adaklu, was rejected twice on October 26, 2021 and was subsequently replaced with Mr Bright Kwame Nyatsikor, who was also given an outright rejection by the Adaklu District Assembly thrice.

The Akatsi North District also run similar narratives when luck eluded its first nominee, Mr Prosper Patu, after facing rejection twice.

He was replaced by Mr Paul Agbesi Ayrah who could not also garner the required two thirds majority to be confirmed as DCE for the district.

Mr Nyatsikor and Mr Ayrah until their nominations held executive positions as the New Patriotic Party Constituency Secretary and Communications Director, respectively.

Paramount chiefs

It was gloom and doom for the people of Hohoe and Kpetoe, following the death and burial of their paramount chiefs.

Massive crowds and the display of indigenous culture of the people of Agortime and the Gbi traditional areas characterised the burial of both the Konor of Agortime Kpetoe, Nene Nuer Keteku III, whose final funeral rites were held on November 22, 2021 and Togbega Gabusu VI of the Gbi Traditional Area, who was laid to rest on December 11, 2021.

Glowing tributes were paid to Nene Keteku, whose leadership was touted as instrumental in birthing the popular Kente Festival (Agbmevorza), among others, and who received recognition from UNESCO as a custodian of the Ewe Kente Cloth.

Meanwhile, scores of government functionaries including the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, and former running mate to the National Democratic Congress flag-bearer, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman, also graced the elaborate royal ceremony for the late Togbega Gabusu VI of Hohoe to pay their last respects to the chief who was credited for ensuring that all chiefs and queens duly enstooled within the Gbi Traditional Area were gazetted promptly.

He also introduced the concept of Togbega and Mamaga for chiefs in paramountcies in the Volta Region, which had trickled into influencing other traditional areas and the unification of the people of Hohoe and Peki into the Gbi Traditional Area.

Crime

In 2021 alone, the Volta Region was confronted with six cases of intimate partner murders.

The incidents included the murder of a woman by her lover after which he stuffed her body in a refrigerator at Fiave, a suburb of Ho, on November 22, 2021.

The phenomenon raised concerns among key stakeholders who feared that the incidents could contribute to weakening the wellbeing of Ghanaian citizens.

The Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, particularly expressed worry over the increasing number of such murders recorded in the region.

He described the murders as appalling and a clear indication that stakeholders needed to do more to salvage the situation.

Tidal Waves

The ravaging tidal waves disaster which swept through over 15 communities in the coastal areas of Keta, Ketu South and Anloga districts was perhaps the most prominent story from the region.

Close to 4,000 residents in three major areas were affected by the havoc which occurred on Sunday, November 7, 2021.

Several households and individuals were affected by the ravaging waves that dislodged them from their homes with little time to salvage their valuables.

The disaster also affected livelihoods after livestock, fishing equipment and other properties were lost to the waves.

A resident, Dr Olympio Attipoe, who spoke to the Daily Graphic at the time of the disaster, said the unfortunate incident took them by surprise and as such the situation could worsen if urgent measures were not effected to ensure their safety.

The municipal and district chief executives of the areas, together with the personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), toured the affected communities and subsequently received donations on behalf of residents from several organisations including corporate Ghana, individuals and religious bodies for those affected.