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Mahama cuts sod for the construction of 500-seater sports facility at Bole-Bamboi

Former President John Mahama has officially cut the sod for the construction of a modern 500-seater sports facility for the people of Bole-Bamboi in the Northern Region.

The construction of this facility is expected to improve and enhance sports development in the community.

During the ceremony, Mr Mahama stated that providing adequate facilities for sports development is essential for nurturing talent and fostering community engagement.

In a post on his facebook page, he stated, “I cut the sod for the construction of a 500-seater modern sports facility for the youth and people of my home constituency, Bole-Bamboi, and its surrounding communities on Sunday.”

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He added that “facilitated by my younger brother, the Member of Parliament for Bole, Alhaji Yusif Suleman, the facility will contain a football pitch with changing rooms, volleyball and tennis courts and a swimming pool.”

Former President Mahama stressed, “As a social democratic party, the NDC is immutable in its commitment to inclusive growth through investments in health, education, and sports. Our sports development programmes will focus on talent development and feed our human development agenda.”

When completed, this will surely be an excellent opportunity to provide the youth with an avenue to develop their sporting skills and talents, keep them healthy, and create entertainment opportunities through the various games and activities in the complex.

The construction work will also create job opportunities for the town’s skilled and unskilled youth.

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By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme

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 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.

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.

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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.

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.

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“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.

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From: Geoffrey Kwame Buta, Keta, Volta Region

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 Ghanaians climax Easter with fun-filled activities

• Awards given for outstanding performance
• Awards given for outstanding performance

Christians around the world and other faith based groups last Monday cli­maxed the Easter celebration with a number of fun-filled outdoor and indoor activities.

With streets empty, fun seekers stormed church premises where picnics were held while others partied in many ways.

Others spent the day at the various beaches and music and film shows occu­pying the others.

At the churches, participants engaged in bible reading, football, volleyball, playing cards, table tennis, horse racing, bouncing castles, swimming and oware.

Others played ludo, tag of war, lime and spoon, draught, music competitions among others.

The Spectator captured some of the exciting scenes around Accra-Tema for the benefit of readers.

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 Story & pictures by Victor A. Buxton

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