Accra, June 11, GNA – Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Friday led the staff of the Ministry to plant trees as part of the five million tree planting initiative under the Green Ghana Project.
The trees were scheduled to be planted on June 11 and Ghanaians would be mobilised to plant trees on the day and nurture them to maturity as a way of contributing to the preservation of the environment across the country.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful planted trees in the front garden at the entrance to the Ministry and at the Kofi Annan Information Technology Centre (KAITC).
She said the Green Ghana Project was aimed at planting hard wood, which could be used for timber in ten to twenty years with the expectation that it would improve the vegetation and forest cover in the country over 80 per cent of which have been destroyed.
She said, “In our small way we are helping to plant some of the five million trees and we believe that even the work we do is dependent on it because our lives depend on the lives of the vegetation around us as the saying goes when the last tree dies, the last man dies.”
She said without the trees the very survival of human beings was threatened.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said a lot of the vegetation cover in the country, which includes the forest and green surroundings had been destroyed by human activities and pledged the Ministry’s support Green Ghana Project.
She charged the KAITC to develop an application that would monitor the health and the growth of the trees by the use of digital technology.
“I think it is doable because they just assured me they have already started working on it which we can log in to see how your trees are doing and it is incumbent on all of us to nurture the trees that we planted.”
The Minister urged the citizenry to partake in the exercise and contribute their resources to aid the realisation of the project.
“The Plants will do well no matter where they are planted and out of that we can continue to enjoy the benefits from it. Take personal charge of them by watering and seeing them properly established and growing healthy with the application of little manure and regular watering. ”
The Ministry planted Orange tree, decorative palm tree while others planted coconut, mangoes, pawpaw and more which we can continue to enjoy in the future.
GNA