Madam Sarah Dugbakie Pobee, the District Chief Executive for Ada East has appealed to the media to join forces with the assembly to educate the citizens on the roles they needed to play in ensuring environmental safety.
She said: “The media has a major role to play to ensure that the citizen understands issues surrounding the environment, dangers we collectively face through any reckless act of individuals or communities against nature.
“We must all work together for our common interest to protect mother earth and its natural resources”.
Madam Pobee made this call during a workshop organized by the Volta River Authority (VRA) to educate residents and communities situated along the dam’s catchment areas and along river bodies to protect it as monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult).
She revealed that the Ada-East District Assembly has launched an operation to fight against hospitality operators along the banks of rivers in the district who dispose of waste materials directly into the rivers.
She also considered the support of traditional rulers to help in the fight against ‘unpatriotic’ hospitality facilities operators disposing of waste into the water bodies as critical; “people respect the views of the traditional leaders because of their influence in the development of various communities.
“The fight against unpatriotic hospitality operators would be impossible without the active involvement of traditional rulers and the media”.
Madam Pobee explained that the involvement of the traditional rulers in the fight was necessary as the lands in the district were owned by families who sold them directly to investors including the hospitality operators.
“The hospitality operators are, therefore, by extension their tenant or subjects who will listen to whatever lawful instructions from them, we are counting on our chiefs to use their high office to protect nature,” she said.
She remaindered the hotel operators and other hospitality facility owners in the district that under the new Operation Clean Your Frontage by-law, the assembly has been given powers to sanction sanitation offenders.
Ms. Pobee said the Assembly would take stringent measures to battle against all those who would breach the sanitation by-laws and expose the environment to danger.
Mr. Andreas Andoh, an officer from the VRA Environment and Sustainable Development Department urged the assembly to enact by-laws to deal with hospitality facilities channeling their waste into the water bodies.
He said VRA intends to undertake a comprehensive water quality monitoring exercise from Akuse to the estuary and submit copies of a report to the Assemblies detailing the companies who are polluting water bodies.
“Such a comprehensive report would help the Assemblies to take appropriate legal actions against any offender,” he said.
Mr. Andoh said this initiative was to ensure that, the hoteliers put in place treatment facilities in their hotels to avoid channeling waste directly into the river bodies.
Source: Modern Ghana
