Private legal practitioner and member of the communications team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Gordon Edudzi Tameklo, has stated that for the benefit of hindsight the majority caucus in parliament should retract and render an apology to the people of Keta for the alleged picture of sand winning activities in the area that has resulted in the tidal wave.
He said the picture bandied about by the deputy majority leader in parliament Alexander Afenyo-Markin on Friday, November 12, has nothing to do with Keta but rather a foreign image from Sierra Leone that was showcased by the majority caucus to justify the affliction that has visited the area.
Mr Tamekloe said in the people’s time of grief, what the majority side shouldn’t have done was to associate a conduct or an act that does not represent the people of Keta and its environs thus it is only fair that they apologize and retract those pictures.
He however stated that anyone who has an appreciation of the coast line from Axim to Keta would appreciate that “the issue of sand winning is not a recent phenomena and the records will show that Job 600 was built with sand that they basically got from our shore line”.
Mr Tamekloe posited that the problem of sand winning in the area is not in “commercial quantity” but the picture the majority caucus exhibited in parliament has to do with sand winning in commercial quantities leading to environmental challenges.
According to the legal practitioner, that is an entirely different issue thus there should be no premise to blame sand winning on the tragedy that has visited Keta and the affected communities in the region.
He said the majority caucus got it all wrong and that they should do the needful to retract and apologize to the people of Keta.
Mr Tamekloe said this in an interview with Johnnie Hughes on the New Day show on TV3, Monday, November 15.
He was reacting on the back of the hullabaloo in parliament over an alleged photo of sand winning activities in Keta and its environs that was exhibited by the majority caucus in parliament on Friday, November 12, to prove that the people are engaged in sand winning in commercial quantities that resulted in the tidal wave on the area.
“The majority in parliament put up a picture claiming that picture is as a result of sand winning in the area. First of all, we need to reprimand, if I may use that word, the majority group in using that picture. It has nothing to do with Keta, it is only fair that with the benefit of hindsight, the majority group will retract and apologize to the people in those areas.
“In their time of grief, what you should not do is to associate a conduct or an act which is not what they represent so it is only fair that they apologize and retract those pictures. They were taken in Sierra Leone, they have nothing to do with Ghana,” he charged on the New Day.
By Barima Kwabena Yeboah|3news.com|Ghana
