Issa (U/W), Dec. 16. GNA – All the 11 municipal and district assemblies in the Upper West Region are without Bushfire Control sub-committees to regulate the burning of vegetation in their jurisdictions.
Section Five (5) of the PNDC Law 229, 1990 mandates all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to institute Bushfire Control sub-committees, which will regulate the burning of the vegetation in their catchment areas.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) Abraham Nii Dodoo, the Upper West Regional Fire Officer, has described as sad the non-fulfillment of the regulation by the assemblies.
Speaking at Issa during the launch of the 2021/2022 Bushfire Prevention Campaign and Passing Out of fire volunteers in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District of the region, he urged the chief executives of the MMDAs and the assembly members to make it a point to fulfill the requirement in their various assemblies.
It requires the collective efforts to effectively enforce the PNDC Law 229 of 1990 to the letter.
On the passing out of the fire volunteers, ACFO Dodoo said the training of the fire volunteers should enhance their capability to save lives in a threatening situation.
“I am privileged to announce to you that 100 fire volunteers are passing out having gone through training in foot drills, causes of fires and the PNDC Law 229 of 1990”, he said.
He said all these were geared towards assisting the communities to deal with fires, especially bushfires, which destroyed their ecology, farm lands and vegetative habitat of wildlife.
Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, said bushfires had over the years destroyed farms leading to total loss of farm yields, which threatened food security in the Savannah Ecological Zone.
He said the investment put in place by government through the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) campaign might be lost if they fail to address the bushfire menace.
Government had supplied 65,149.8 metric tonnes of NPK and 6,234.23 metric tonnes of Urea fertilizers to farmers in the region for their farming activities under the PFJ programme in this cropping season, Dr Salih said.
A total of 7,622.84 metric tonnes of various kinds of seeds were equally distributed to farmers by the various municipal and district assemblies for the year under review.
“These huge investments made by government need to be jealously protected against bushfires, especially now that bushfires are a common phenomenon in the region during the dry season,” the Regional Minister said.
Bushfires had become a ritual and it was only through intensive education on its negative effects that it could be reduced and possibly stopped.
“Orientation of the mindset of our people, especially the youth, will be critical if we want to put a stop to this menace,” he said, as he lauded the Ghana National Fire Service for launching the 2021/2022 bushfire prevention campaign.
It was on the theme: “Bushfires – A menace to PFJ, Consolidating food systems in Ghana”.
GNA