Can Hearts survive in Lion’s den?

Obeng Jr (left) in a game against his former club

Kpando Heart of Lions will be on a mission to deepen the woes of Accra Hearts of Oak when they lock horns tomorrow in their Ghana Premier League Matchday 2 game in Kpando.

Hearts lost their opening day fixture to Basake Holy Stars and have vowed to make amends tomorrow against a Lions side that were cruising to an away win against Aduana Stars until a last minute equaliser by the host.

Assistant Coach of the Phobians, Nana Yaw Amankwah, says the opening day defeat has given them a rude awakening and was optimistic to turn their fortunes around.

The clash would not be an easy one for the visitors who would come up against three of their former colleagues – Kwadwo Obeng Junior, Abednego Tetteh, and midfielder, Michelle Sarpong.

They have already served a notice of intent that give the visitors a gist of what to expect. For them, the clash serves as a moment to prove to all that the decision to release them was a mistake.

Coach Bashiru Hayford of Lions says his boys are ready for what may be one of their clashes to test their readiness to survive the season, and would give their best shot to send the Phobians back to the capital empty-handed.

Aduana FC, who survived a Heart of Lions scare last week, will travel to the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park in Bechem to take on Bechem United.

Bechem United won the fixture at the same venue last season, and with the return of Augustine Okrah, they hope to replicate that feat.

Newly promoted side, Young Apostles, will take on Nations FC at the Wenchi Sports Stadium, with fellow debutant, Basake Holy Stars, putting aside the feat over Hearts to focus on Dreams FC at the Crosby Awuah Memorial Park at Ainyinase.

BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY

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News

Swallowed by the Sea! …Keta’s coastal lines, landmarks, efforts to preserve heritage

Fragments of a once inhabited home now lie submerged, swallowed by the encroaching waters along Keta’s coast(1)

The Atlantic Ocean is no longer a distant blue horizon for the people of Keta.

It now circles around their doorsteps, uninvited, unrelenting, pulling down walls and other structures, erasing memories, and threatening lives.

Hovering precariously between the restless sea and the Keta Lagoon, this once-thriving coastal town is slowly being obliterated.

A once standing home now lies in ruins, claimed by the relentless waves along the shore of Keta a stark reminder of the growing threat of coastal erosion.

Salt water has become both a physical and metaphorical threat, dissolving the town’s past as fast as it claims its future.

Madam Aku Atitso, 62, lives in a crumbling former Prisons Service quarters – one of the few structures still standing on the eroded stretch of Queen Street.

The remains of the old Ghana Prisons quarters in Keta, slowly succumbing to the advancing sea, evidence of the unyielding coastal erosion reshaping the shoreline.

She sits quietly at the entrance, preparing a modest breakfast for herself and her granddaughter.

The air is thick with salt and silence. “The sea took everything,” she says softly. “My husband’s nets, our mattress, our memories all gone overnight.” Her voice trembles. “This place too is dying. But it’s the last place with a roof over my head.”

A few metres away, Aunty Esinam, 79, watches the sea from a low stool beside a wooden shelter. Her eyes do not blink. “That spot,” she points, “used to be someone’s living room, a whole family lived there”.

Efo Agbeko stands atop the sea defence wall, pointing toward the vast Atlantic Ocean, marking the spot where buildings once stood before the sea claimed them

It’s not just homes that are vanishing. Landmarks that anchored Keta’s cultural identity are disappearing one after another. The once-imposing Fort Prinzenstein, a haunting relic of the transatlantic slave trade is now more of a ruin than a monument.

Fragments of a once inhabited home now lie submerged, swallowed by
the encroaching waters along Keta’s
coast.

The colonial-era Bremen factory, the old cinema where generations of children once laughed at flickering black-and-white films is also gone.

Queen Street, once the town’s bustling backbone, is now a watery corridor choked with debris.

Standing atop a section of the sea defence wall, 69-year-old retired teacher Efo Kwasi Agbeko surveys what remains.

“The first police station is mostly gone,” he says, gesturing part of the building stuck in the sea sand, only ruins and a few rooms remain.

Children play on a fishing canoe grounded in the sand a moment of joy amidst the quiet rhythms of coastal life.

“This town is fighting, but the sea is winning,” he said.

Even the Cape St. Paul Lighthouse, Keta’s historic sentinel, leans perilously toward the water, and fishermen say holes in the shore are opening more frequently, sometimes every week.

That leaves a thick cloud of uncertainty hanging around the historic town of Keta.

Once upon a time, it was a vibrant town noted for business but currently left with ruins with a few of the residents watching in awe the sea’s devastation.

From: Geoffrey Kwame Buta, Keta, Volta Region