Asantehene calls for national emergency for clean environment

Government has been advised to as a matter of urgency consider declaring a national emergency for a clean environment to bring together traditional rulers , local, health , and education authorities to find practical ways of saving the country from the health hazards as a result of the prevailing insanitary conditions.

Asantehene Otumfour Osei Tutu II made the call when he delivered the keynote address at the 19th Ghana Journalist Association Award on the theme “"using development journalism to discern and defend the national interest’’. in Accra.

The current insanitary condition in the country has triggered an outbreak of cholera in the country which has so far claimed 92 lives from over 10,000 reported cases in just three months.
It has now spread to 52 districts across seven regions of the country, excluding the three northern regions- Northern, Upper East and Upper West.


He lamented over the level at which the country has been engulfed with filth making it a haven for breeding mosquitoes after nearly 60 years of Independence.

“We exude pride in ourselves not just as Ghanaians, but as the torch-bearers of African renaissance. How does that pride square with the mounds of refuge in the heart of our cities?” he questioned.
“What makes this more tragic is that all available evidence points to the fact that our forefathers and mothers lived in a cleaner environment than we are he emphasized adding that While creative nations turn their refuse into wealth, we prefer to let our people die from the refuse.


According to him the education and social advancement being enjoyed currently should not make us on our sense of responsibility for our own health and well-being especially when the continent is battling with the deadly Ebola.
The Asantehene has therefore called on policy makers to take pragmatic measures to address the challenge facing the continent.


By Fred Dzakpata