ADUKROM-YENSI is a small village which lies below the lofty Akuapem Ridge, about two kilometres off the main Adukrom-Koforidua highway.
The tiny village, comprising about 10 houses with a population of about 100 people is approximately six kilometres away from Adukrom, the traditional capital of the Okere people who constitute nearly 90 per cent of the population.
As a typical rural community, the people as expected, are farmers on small holdings, cultivating food crops with cassava as the main crop. The other food crops are maize, plantain, cocoyam and yam.
While the cassava is processed into cassava dough and sent to the marketing centres at Koforidua and Accra, the remaining foodstuffs are consumed locally and as a result the farmers generate very little income; too meagre for their livelihood.
To make matters worse, the entire area which some years ago was a thick forest, has been reduced to bushes with virtually no trees due to the improper farming practices and activities of illegal chainsaw operators, especially on the mountains.
The indiscriminate destruction of the vegetation, particularly on the mountains, has exposed the rocks to the vagaries of the weather and some of rocks roll down onto the settlements underneath during a heavy downpour.
Such a situation resulted in landslides at Yensi in 1942 and 1987 but with no loss of human life, although some of the farms and property were destroyed.
The severest of the landslides, however, occurred in the afternoon of Tuesday, October 7, this year which claimed the lives of three persons.
The deceased, Doris Asantewa, 55, Yaa Oforiwaa, 72, and an infant, Kwasi Mantey, were buried alive and their bodies were retrieved by a combined task force comprising personnel of the Ghana Police and Fire Services with support from the people after nearly 48 hours of operation.
The tragedy threw the entire community into a state of mourning and also turned the village into a tourist attraction.
Many commuters along the Adukrom-Koforidua highway who had not seen a landslide of such magnitude before, rushed to the village for first hand information.
Shortly after the tragedy, a number of dignitaries and government officials also rushed to the scene to see how best to bring relief to the people.
The top officials included Mr Edward Adu Aboagye, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Akuapem North and Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe, a former Minister of State and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Okere.
The Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, who was on an official visit to the Kwahu area on the day of the tragedy, had to cut short the visit and return to the scene to offer the necessary assistance.
While Mr Adu Aboagye personally supervised the removal of the bodies, Mr Dan Botwe who had just returned to the country after a foreign tour, followed up the next day together with Mr Kwabena Agyepong, a representative of the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.
Mr Botwe initially presented GH¢200 to the bereaved family and also offered to single-handedly provide coffins for the burial of the victims as well as cater for other funeral expenses.
That aside, the prospective Okere MP further indicated his willingness to offer the necessary assistance that would help alleviate the suffering of the community.
That included the relocation of the village, which according to officials of the Geological Survey Department, is prone to landslide.
“It is unfortunate that some people have died from such a natural disaster and I will do my best to alleviate the situation in the short term as well as take steps to relocate you from the area if you so wish,” Mr Botwe stated.
Mr Botwe’s relief package followed a request by Mr Daniel Henaku, a relative of the victims and spokesman for the community who asked for support and relocation of the village.
For his part, Mr Afram Asiedu presented various relief items to the people and gave the assurance that the Regional Co-ordinating Council would follow up with concrete measures that would permanently alleviate their plight.
To put meaning to the promises, the almost impassable two-kilometre road linking Adukrom-Yensi to the main Koforidua-Adukrom road which had not been rehabilitated for years, has in the interim been reconditioned. It has also been planned to rehabilitate it periodically to make it motorable at all times.
The assistance and assurances as expected, have brought partial relief to the people with the hope that soon all that they were promised would be delivered at least before the onset of the next rainy season.
This would not only enable such unfortunate inhabitants to enjoy at least some of the basic necessities of life, but also make it possible for them to be permanently settled at safer locations in the area so that they would continue with food crops cultivation that have been the only economic venture in the area.
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