Choicenewsonline Your Choice Is Here
Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources has call on Ghanaians to recognize the alarming illegal mining (gallamsey) in our Water bodies and Forest Reserves as a state of almost National disaster that needs a be a concern for every citizen irrespective of one’s political dispensation.
According to her, if we do not come together in unity to develop a holistic solution to the problem stirring us at the faces posperity would not be kind to us.
The Minister made the called at her key note address during the opening ceremony of MOLE 35 Conference in Ho , the Volta region of Ghana.
The conference was organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) on the general theme, “Looking Back on SDG 6 Implementation in Ghana: Progress, Challenges, and Ways Forward.”
The four main thematic subjects are institutional alignments and policies, approaches, strategies, and methods towards attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) in Ghana.
Among the institutions and organisations participating in the five-day MOLE35 Conference are the GAMA/GKMA Sanitation and Water Project, IRC Ghana, World Vision Ghana, and the Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe).
Madam Seyram stressed that, the fight is not for blame game but a time where all stakeholders from all facet of society and from government itself, the opposition and all political other parties Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Traditional Authorities, religious groups among others come together to develop a solution devoid of politics to address the national problem.
She reiterated that posterity would not be kind to us if we fail to take a unify approach to safe our water bodies and Forest Reserves, and would not differentiate between this generation on the bases of what political party one’s belongs but would only remember us as generation of people who act out of greed and our unkind urged to pursue our parochial interest failed to plan a common grounds to address the existential threat.
She disclosed that the opportunity is now to chat a common course is now to come together to act for our own collective good, and observed that we are into this together and not about politics, the fight is now and it’s the fight against mining in our water bodies and forest reserves.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, Paramount Chief of Anfoega, and the President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, and Development Partners.
Other participants includes the Child Diplomat-Master Abdul Yazid Faraj Timtoni Wumbei, WASH Experts and Practitioners, the Council of Elders of CONIWAS, CONIWAS members, and Fellow Civil Society Representatives.
From Ernest Best Anane
