Members of Eco-Conscious Citizens have petitioned the president to demand for no further attempts to re-zone any portion of land belonging to the Parks and Gardens but exclusively n for a multi-purpose office complex.
They asked for the resourcing of the department of Parks and Gardens to deliver the remit for which it was set up.
The petition signed by 3,500 supporters from Ghana and beyond to President Nana Akufo-Addo through Ghana’s Deputy High Commissioner in London,. Rita Tani Iddi.
The 3,500 plus petition, which had cross-party and cross-faith support included the Most Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle Archbishop of Cape Coast, asking the President to use his good offices to ensure that Parks and Gardens lands are kept exclusively for the green economy – that is sustainable environmental, horticultural or botanical use, and that
Awula Serwah ECC co-ordinator it said it was crucial that we understood the adverse effects that climate change had on the planet and rectify the mode of living, because what affected others in the small corner of the planet, affected everyone around the globe.
According to the petition, pollution of the land, water bodies and air, destruction of Atewa, Kloyo, Wetogbika and other vitally necessary forests, mountains, mangroves, grasslands and wildlife, threaten whole species, habitats, eco-systems and communities like Kewuno with disappearance, and pose not only local, but also global environmental problems to our whole world.”
“With climate change in the news and activists, including Extinction Rebellion, demanding that world leaders take environmental issues seriously; Eco-Conscious Citizens are hoping President Akufo-Addo will respond positively to the Parks and Gardens petition” she said.
Awula Serwa said the multi-purpose office complex should be located elsewhere since “Accra was becoming a concrete jungle, and experiencing the effects of climate change. It is vital that we preserves our parks and open spaces, and that Parks and Gardens land is kept for environmental purposes.”
He said Government must listen to voices of those like Eco-Conscious Citizens and our Extinction Rebellion affinity groups and networks in Ghana that are demanding positive action now on the Parks and Gardens land issue, among all the other matters of the environment in this critical time of worsening climate and ecological emergency,” added Kofi Klu, ECC member and Joint Coordinator of the Extinction Rebellion Internationalist Solidarity Network in United Kingdom.
In Accra, ECC members, including octogenarian and nonagenarian members, met with the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Affairs (LGRA) Hon. Adjei Boateng, who was given a copy of the petition.
He noted that the importance of a petition does not lie in the number of signatories, but the type of people including two very elderly ladies who have managed to climb several flights of stairs to lodge their deepest concern about a situation.
BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY
