By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, April 01, GNA – Mr Abdul Rahman Safian, Executive Director, West African Centre for the Protection of Animal Welfare has underscored need for Ghana’s Reset Agenda to incorporate animal welfare as a critical pillar of national development.
Mr Safian, who made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale, said any meaningful attempt to reset the country’s economy, institutions, and social systems would be incomplete without addressing how animals are treated across the agricultural value chain.
He said, “A society cannot claim to be advancing in development and morality while turning a blind eye to the silent suffering of animals.”
He noted that the transportation of animals from farms to markets and slaughterhouses in Ghana was often characterized by avoidable cruelty.
Mr Safian explained that animals were frequently transported in overcrowded trucks without food, water, or rest leading to exhaustion, dehydration, injuries, and sometimes death before arrival.
He said, “Those that survive are sometimes beaten, dragged, or forced into tight spaces reflecting not only individual cruelty but systemic gaps in regulation and education.”
He observed that humane slaughter practices such as proper stunning were not consistently applied, causing animals to endure unnecessary pain in their final moments.
Mr Safian emphasized that poor animal welfare practices had implications beyond ethics thereby affecting both public health and the economy and explained that stress in animals triggered the release of hormones that could reduce meat quality, shorten shelf life, and increase contamination risks.
He warned that poor hygiene in handling the animals during slaughter could facilitate the spread of zoonotic and foodborne diseases.
He said the country lacked comprehensive legislation to effectively criminalise animal cruelty across the livestock value chain and reminded government to establish a dedicated institutional body within the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to be responsible for animal welfare. “This gap makes it difficult to monitor progress and enforce standards leaving animal welfare as an afterthought rather than a development
He urged Parliament to enact comprehensive animal welfare law to criminalise cruelty in transportation, handling, housing, and slaughter of animals.
He called for investment in humane infrastructure including well-designed livestock markets and slaughterhouses with adequate space, water, and proper equipment.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh /Kenneth Odeng Adade