Let's have national water policy - MPs
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 March 2000
Mr Mike
Gizo, Minister of Tourism, told Parliament on Thursday that the proposed
Tourism Development Fund to provide the needed financial resources for the
growth and sustainable development of the industry is to be operational this
year.
He said the broad objective of the fund,
which would derive a percentage of its revenue from tourism-related activities,
is to raise long-term capital and funds on a sustainable basis for tourism
development.
Mr Gizo who was answering a question in
the House, announced that, as part of efforts to make the Fund operational, the
Ministry of Tourism has submitted a memorandum to Cabinet for consideration.
Cabinet, he
said, has referred the document to a sub-committee under the chairmanship of
the Minister of Finance to discuss the issues raised in the document for
Cabinet to come out with the relevant directives for the Fund to be
operational.
Mr Kwakye
Addo, NDC-Afram Plains South, wanted to know when the proposed Fund would be
operational.
On the
development of tourism sites including the Mass Grave in Jaman District, Mr
Gizo told the House that under the Ministry's Integrated Tourism Development
Project, the sector and the National Slave Route Committee would initiate
archaeological works at Jinini and other historical sites and develop them into
tourist attractions.
He explained that the development of the
Mass Grave would be done with the Jaman District Assembly and the traditional
council, to ensure community participation for sustainable tourism development.
The Minister said Ghana, in collaboration
with other African countries with both tangible and intangible relics of the
Slave Trade, has initiated a cultural tourism project known as the "Slave
Route Project" with the assistance of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The project seeks to rehabilitate,
restore and promote these relics to enhance cultural tourism and to project the
common nature of the slave trade in relation to Africa, Europe, the Americas
and the Caribbean.
Earlier, reports on the annual financial
estimates for four ministries and a legislative instrument on the Ghana Armed
Forces were laid before Parliament.
GRi./
Accra
(Greater Accra), 10 March 2000
Members of
Parliament on Thursday called for a national policy on water to conserve water
resources for the present generation and posterity.
They said it is about time the perennial
acute water shortages that hit the nation's major cities and towns were dealt
with once and for all.
The members expressed these concerns
after Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, NPP-Asante Akim North, appealed to government and
relief organisations for assistance for
the people of his constituency, who have been hit by a severe water shortage.
In a statement read to the house, the MP
mentioned Konongo, Odumase, Agogo, Domeabra, Juansa, Patrensa, Dwease, Praaso
and Otikrom as some of the towns that have been affected.
He said the River Anum, which is the main
source of drinking water for the area, has dried up to the extent that water
that flows in the river's channel can hardly satisfy a community of 50 people.
"Under very difficult conditions,
hard-working men and women and schoolchildren have to walk long distances to
fetch water from caves and other unusual places."
The member called for the completion of
the final phase of the Asante Akim waterworks at Agyare Ago, near Odumase, to
make water supply more regular.
Mr Baah-Wiredu asked the Ministry of
Lands and Forestry to acquire the entire catchment area and slopes along River
Anum for afforestation.
Mr Nicholas Appiah-Kubi, NDC-Jaman, said
it should be made mandatory for every housing programme to provide a rain
harvesting infrastructure.
He also called for the damming of all
streams and small rivers in the various communities.
The member said the time had come for
Ghanaians to accept water conservation as the only way to sustainable water
supply in the country.
Ms Theresa Nyarko-Fofie, NDC-Nkoranza,
said people who fell timber and destroy vegetation in catchment areas of rivers
should be checked.
She said the 'alarm bells' have been
sounded long ago so "it is time we started doing something to protect the
nation".
Mrs Grace Coleman, NPP-Effiduase Asokore,
said if "we are not careful, we will become refugees not because of war
but water".
Nana Akufo-Addo, Minority Spokesman on
Legal and Constitutional Matters, called for a strategy that would make safe
water available to all the people.
GRi