Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources has called on Ghanaians to recognise the alarming rate of illegal mining (galamsey) in our water bodies and Forest Reserves as a National disaster.
According to her, if we do not come together in unity to develop a holistic solution to the problem staring us in the face, posterity would not be kind to us.
The Minister made the call in her keynote address during the opening ceremony of MOLE 35 Conference in Ho, in the Volta region yesterday.
The conference was organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) under the 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 was not a blame game, but a period whereall stakeholders from all facets of society, and from government, opposition, political parties, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Traditional Authorities and Religious groups among others, to 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 unified approach to save our water bodies and Forest Reserves and would not differentiate on the basis of what political party one belongs to.
The Minister noted that posterity would rather only remember us as a generation of people who act out of greed and that in our unkind urges to pursue our parochial interest failed to plan a common ground to address the existential threat.
She disclosed that the opportunity is now to chart a common course and come together to act for our own collective good and observed that we are into this together and not about politics, stressing that the fight against mining in our water bodies and forest reserves must be sustained.
The opening ceremony was chaired by TogbeTepre Hodo IV, Paramount Chief of Anfoega and the President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, with Dr. Archibald YaoLetsa, Volta Regional Minister and Development Partners in attendance.
Other participants included the Child Diplomat-Master Abdul Yazid Faraj TimtoniWumbei, WASH Experts and Practitioners, the Council of Elders of CONIWAS, CONIWAS members and Fellow Civil Society Representatives.
