By Felix Baidoo, KUMASI
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joe Osei-Wusu, has attributed the current state of environmental degradation in the country to lack of law enforcement in the country although the nation had enacted good laws for every facet of the economy.
The Deputy Speaker also attributed the lack of enforcement of the laws of the land to some law enforcers who have been compromised or implicit in various destructive acts against the environment making it very difficult to enforce the laws.
He therefore called on law enforcement agencies in the country to redouble their effort at ensuring that laws in the country were implemented to bring sanity into every facet of economy.
Mr Osei-Wusu, announced this at the launching of an environment, sanitation and corruption free society project organized by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung under the auspices of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church.
The event which had the theme “A clean environment in a corruption free society” brought together people from all walks of life, the GCBC, the laity, politicians among others.
It would focus on corruption, sanitation and environment as it mobilize the clergy, the lay faithful and other key stakeholders in the fight against these ills in society.
Objectives
The project has objectives of identifying effective and pragmatic strategies to address corruption, poor sanitation and abuse of the environment at the local level and enhance the capacity of the lay faithful of the church to engage and support the local authorities in the search for accountability and local development.
Mr Osei-Wusu, who is the Member of Parliament for Bekwai, lauded the GCBC for the vision to put in place the project to complement government effort reducing corruption as well as improving sanitation in the country.
The Deputy Speaker advocated for the sustainability of public education on environment, people being bold to report corrupt and environmental degraders as well as the strengthening of law enforcement in the country to curb all these practices.
Pledged
The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference pledged its readiness to support the government in the fight against environment degradation in the country.
According to the GCBC, the move to support the fight against environmental degradation was to ensure that sanity prevailed in every part of the country as-well-as protecting water bodies, land and other natural resources so the people in the country would benefit from its use.
The Bishop of Wiawso and Episcopal Chairman, Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate of the Catholic Church, Most Rev. Joseph Francis Essien, who announced this on behalf of the bishops described the behaviour of people who destroyed the earth to haven an attitude of selfishness and greediness instead of being steward of the earth.
He stated that the GCBC had through various forms and communiques condemn any activity that had destroyed the environment which was the common home of man and the hope of future generations.
“We shall fight against the perpetrators of the “crime” against our common home, in the form of environmental degradation, poor sanitation and corruption which are all social canker which lead to increased poverty, hunger sickness, and other developments”. Most Rev. Essien said.
Rev. Essien stated that the GCBC was more than ready to partner the government and other faith-based organizations in the fight against environmental degradation, adding that the fight against environment should not be left in the hands of only the government and other agencies.
The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Kumasi, Most Rev. Gabriel Yaw Anokye, in his welcome statement, lamented that although the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals are aimed at ensuring that nations across the world protect the environment, it was sad that the situation was rather getting worse in the country.
He attributed the rising environmental degradation to modern technologies and urbanization which had led to the unimaginable and indiscriminate destruction of the environment which has brought about crisis of the ecology of the country.
On the issue of corruption, Most Rev. Anokye, said advocating for a corruption free society was very crucial to the church and the nation, saying there was the need for the chain of corruption to be broken since it was a major bottleneck to the development of every nation.
He recounted how corruption was able to undermine government’s ability to serve its people as it erodes the rule of law, public institutions and trust in leaders.