TMA to act on Chemu Lagoon Restoration report
Tema, Aug. 25, GNA

Minister of the Environment and Science, Ms Christine
Churcher, has ordered the Tema Municipal Assembly
(TMA), to commission a team to study the Acres
International Report on the resuscitation of the Chemu
Lagoon and forward it to government for consideration.

The study, she said, should be in the light of current
realities and should include repackaging the
restoration project, as well as its engineering and
financial components.

The Minister gave the order in a speech read on her
behalf at Tema at a stakeholders' dialogue on the role
of industry and the Municipal Assembly in managing
waste and the way forward for the Chemu Lagoon. The
dialogue was under the theme, "Meeting the Challenges
of Restoring the Chemu II Lagoon" and was organised by
the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement, (CSRM)
an NGO in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert
Stiftung.

Ms Churcher, however, suggested to industries in the
municipality to contribute financially to the
restoration of the lagoon, since the financial
implications of such project may be beyond the
capacity of the TMA.

In addition, the TMA and the traditional authorities
should consider launching a Chemu Lagoon Restoration
Fund towards that purpose, whilst Members of
Parliament in the area 'put their weight and influence
behind the project'.

The Environment Minister attributed the problems of
waste management in Tema and Ghana in general to the
poor planning for waste management programmes,
inadequate sites and facilities for waste management
operations and negative attitudes of the public and
some industries towards the environment.

She advised the TMA to apply some of its funds for
Urban Infrastructure Rehabilitation Projects to
improve major drains, and as well, prepare a waste
management plan, based on the guidelines developed by
the Environmental Protection Agency.

Speaking on 'Role of Local Government Agencies in
Ensuring Compliance to Environmental Regulations', the
Local Government Minister, Mr Charles Bintim,
announced that the Ministry had developed an
Environmental Sanitation Policy document to provide a
comprehensive framework to guide the implementation of
environmental sanitation programmes of the
metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies in a
systematic manner.

The document, he added, specified the roles of the
Ministry and the district assemblies regarding
legislation and law enforcement on environmental
sanitation.

He said formulation of policies alone could not bring
about good sanitary conditions and emphasised on the
role and involvement of the judiciary, which should
establish and empower tribunals to prosecute
offenders, who flouted sanitary bye-laws and
regulations.

He reminded Ghanaians that, the business of ensuring
good sanitary conditions for the development of a
healthy society was not the responsibility of the
Local Government agencies alone, but collaborative
efforts of all stakeholders including traditional
authorities and the community at large.

The TMA Chief Executive, Mr David Quaye Annang, in a
short address reminded participants on the need to
collaborate with each other to find a lasting solution
to the Chemu Lagoon restoration and not to blame
others for its pollution.

He gave assurance of the assembly's commitment to
ensuring good sanitary conditions for a better
development of Tema. Earlier in his welcome address,
the Executive Secretary of CSRM, Mr Richster Nii Armah
Armafio, appealed to the Environment Minister and the
Municipal Chief Executive of Tema, to ensure an
immediate discontinuation of a fish processing
facility, which was at the banks of the lagoon.