The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has underscored the need for Ghanaians to respect nature to ensure that their communities and traditional areas are clean and healthy.

“In the olden days, our mothers woke up around 4 a.m. and swept the compound. There was nothing like the dumping of refuse into gutters, and for that reason our gutters were clean and tidy,” he said.

However, he said, it was regrettable that Ghanaians had brushed aside those values and were rather dumping refuse into gutters and polluting water bodies, and lamented the fact that now there was no respect for the rule of law.

The negative attitude, he said, posed various health risks to the citizenry.

“We can deal with these sanitation problems if, as a country, we will defend and believe in the rule of law and, more importantly, respect the rule of nature in our traditional areas,” he stressed.

Courtesy Call

The Okyenhene made the call during a courtesy call on him at the Ofori Panin Fie in Kyebi last Monday by the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who was accompanied by some chief directors of the ministry.

The visit was part of the minister’s four-day working tour of the Eastern and the Ashanti regions, aimed at assessing the state of water bodies and checking water treatment plants in the two regions.

According to the Okyenhene, what worked for “our forefathers and ancestors” was that they had enormous respect for God’s creation, adding that practices such as “farming 200 feet away from water bodies went a long way to protect water bodies”.

“And that worked even in an era when there were no law enforcers. The practice even saw our forefathers drinking from these water bodies,” he recalled.

Safeguard water bodies

He insisted that it was imperative that water bodies in the country be safeguarded at all cost.

“We must, therefore, not sit down and allow our water bodies to be destroyed by the practice of galamsey,” he averred.

The Okyenhene, who was very passionate about the need to protect the country’s waters, said the lack of jobs should not be used as an excuse by the youth to venture into galamsey.

While commending President Akufo-Addo’s administration for its concerted effort to nip galamsey in the bud, he appealed to it to look for funds to reclaim lands wantonly destroyed by illegal miners.

“Reclaiming these lands can be done by engaging the youth to plant trees on them, which will be job opportunities for them,” he submitted.

Furthermore, the Okyenhene added his voice to calls for the country to be decentralised to bring governance to the doorstep of the people.

Filth and traffic

“For example, decentralising the country will help decongest and rid Accra of the loads of filth and traffic. There is a limit to Accra,” he said.

“Decentralising the country will mean that the ministries of Sanitation and Water Resources, Lands and Natural Resources, Local Government and Rural Development, Food and Agriculture, among others, can be moved to other regions,” he suggested.

That, he said, would ensure efficiency in the governance system.

“What business, for instance, are the ministries of Local Government and Rural Development, Food and Agriculture and Lands and Natural Resources doing in Accra?” he asked.

Consequently, Osagyefo Ofori Panin said it was important that “we change our attitude to help support the government fix the country”.

Water treatment

Earlier, Mrs Dapaah had explained that the essence of her visit to the Eastern Region was to look at the condition of the water treatment plants of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and also assess the state of water bodies in the region.

She said President Akufo-Addo was committed to and working hard to improve the lot of Ghanaians.

She was particularly happy with the state of cleanliness of Kyebi and applauded the Okyenhene for his efforts in that respect.

Immediately after the courtesy call, Mrs Dapaah and her delegation inspected a GWCL water intake facility in Kyebi, not far from the Ofori Panin Fie, the Bunso Water Treatment Plant and finally the Osino Water Treatment Plant, all in the Eastern Region.

From the Eastern Region, Mrs Dapaah will move to the Ashanti Region, where she and her delegation will undertake a similar exercise.