By Victoria Agyemang
Ho (VR), Oct 08, GNA – There is the need to put aside political affiliations and collaborate to find lasting solutions to the destruction of the Country’s water bodies, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources has stated.
Ms Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the Minister, who made the call, cautioned that posterity would not be kind to this generation if quick interventions were not made to stop further destruction of the Country’s natural resources.
She was speaking at the opening of a five-day MOLE XXXV Conference at Ho, the Volta Regional Capital.
The four main thematic subjects of the conference, are institutional alignments and policies, approaches, strategies, and methods towards attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6)
“We will be known as a generation of greed and selfishness if we fail to protect our water bodies.”
The Minister in a sober spirit, said that the time had come for all to end the blame game and decisively end illegal mining that had affected everyone and not only a political party.
“We cannot fail this generation and so we need to double efforts to tackle galamsey to protect and preserve the environment and ours natural resources,” she added.
The impact on the destruction of the water bodies are devastating and frightening thus, a time would come when all would bow their heads in shame if they do not halt the menace now.
She reaffirmed the Ministry’s continued commitment to fighting issues related to water and sanitation for development.
The MOLE XXXV Conference being organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) is on the general theme, “Looking Back on SDG six’s Implementation in Ghana: Progress, Challenges, and Ways Forward.”
It would focus on looking back on Ghana’s implementation of Sustainable Development Goal Six (SDG6) and review approaches and methods, and discuss effective institutional alignment to achieve the national WASH targets by the 2030.
It is intended to create a common space where policymakers, practitioners and researchers could gather to give account of the state of Ghana’s WASH delivery systems through the review of available evidence, interrogate the science and methods, explore the latest learnings and existing experiences to help review progress, assess challenges and address the WASH service delivery gaps.
The conference would also explore how WASH delivery methods which include sector coordination and current service delivery models were impacting on Ghana’s pace towards achieving WASH for all.
Re-emphasing the galamsey menace and the urgent need to halt it, Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, the President of Volta Regional House of Chiefs urged Ghanaians to eschew partisan benefits on issues of national importance.
He said they should look beyond politics to help find solutions to the menace because it was the grassroots that bore the consequences of the canker, the most.
He called for unity in the fight to help eliminate the dangers galamsey posed to the people.
Among the institutions and organisations participating in the conference are the GAMA/GKMA Sanitation and Water Project, IRC Ghana, World Vision Ghana, and the Media Coalition Against Open Defecation (M-CODe).
GNA