The Bible makes it clear how God wanted humanity to take good care of creation. In the Garden of Eden, rivers flowed out to water the garden. The Lord God by His wisdom put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and not to destroy it.
What do we see now in Ghana, apart from galamsayers destroying our forests and water bodies? Let us not lose sight on what is going on in our major towns where there is no gold or diamond to mine. Looking at the coastal areas of Ghana it seems people have lost sight on how our water bodies are being destroyed by unpatriotic Ghanaians and aliens for development.
I would like to limit myself to Greater Accra Region where almost all the Lagoons have been destroyed by developers. The Kpeshie lagoon, Sangoe Lagoon, Mukwe Lagoon, Sakumo Lagoon, the Korley Lagoon, Blekeser Lagoon and Tsemu lagoon all have all been destroyed.
Greediness and mental illness has compelled minority of people to war against water bodies in our beloved country, Ghana. After taking time to tour some of the lagoon sites, I realized that the damage done to the region was huge and if care is not taken, one day the whole region would be consume by floodwaters.
The lagoons, which are to hold on to water whenever it rains, have been developed on. Any time it rains these areas get flooded and monies meant for development has to be channeled there in the form of relief items. The country’s development has delayed because some people in authority do not have the country at heart. Development is a process and not an event, so I wonder why the authorities look on unconcerned to tolerate people to develop those areas at the detriment of the country resources.
The harm that has been cause to the country by building on waterways without permit is unacceptable. I want to find out whether the laws of Ghana were made to decorate our law books or to check and correct wrongdoing, or to favour particular class of people in the country. Minority of the people are enriching themselves at the expense of the majority and the same unpatriotic people turn to blame government, call on government for support to address the mess caused by them.
Why should we mitigate against our own land? We as citizenry have allowed party politics to destroy us. We call wrong right and right wrong because of politics.The road to stop developers on the catchment areas of the affected lagoons and waterways in the region would not be an easy task, looking at the brains behind the filing and marketing of these lagoon enclaves.
It will take a well-defined sense of commitment to put an end to what is happening on daily basis at the catchment areas of our water bodies. The nation crave for the protection of our water bodies and the forests but the authorities have done too little to wage war against encroachers at the enclave of water bodies. The encroachers hold on to the false belief that they can do whatever they like for their selfish interest because those who are responsible to take action have sold their integrity to these enemies of the country.
Looking at the way these unpatriotic people operate, one can clearly see that they have the backing from some authorities. I believe that if the various district assemblies are doing their core mandate by demolishing structures on water bodies and waterways on time, it will frighten others to replicate what the others has suffered for. The assemblies should not wait for developers to do more than 0.01 percent of work before pulling down their structures at our water bodies and waterways. The assemblies should collaborate with the military or the police to wage war against unauthorized developers on the water bodies.
The assemblies should surcharge the developers with the cost of demolition. I also urge the assemblies to embark on public education, call for stakeholders meetings, using both the print and the electronic media to give mass education to the populace. Let us as one people defend our water bodies and stop grieving the spirit of the Lord God. The battle is the Lord’s.
May the Lord bless our Homeland Ghana.