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MP Ocran calls for removal of algae
from western waters
Accra, July 25, GNA – Mr. Lee Ocran, Member of Parliament
for Jomoro on Wednesday moved a Private Member's Motion in
Parliament requesting the Government to take appropriate
measures to remove the algae in the marine waters in the
Jomoro District in the Western Region.
He said the presence of the algae, which makes fishing
almost impossible had greatly affected the livelihood of the
people in the area and had increased their poverty level.
Finance Minister, Mr. Kwadwo
Baah-Wiredu pointed out that the Jomoro District was of
enormous strategic economic importance because of the Jewi
Wharf, and a commercial district that generated a lot of
other economic activities. The district because of its
economic importance, the minister said, has been adopted by
his ministry and that at it was necessary to know the total
cost of weeding out the algae from the marine waters in the
area.
The motion was a second Private Member's Motion that Mr.
Ocran had moved in a month after his first one on the energy
crisis. It was unanimously supported by the House
which called for emergency measures to wipe out the algae in
order to prevent it from further spreading.
He said the algae stretched from the waters of Cote
d'Ivoire, making it a trans-border problem.
Contributing to the motion, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo,
NPP-Amenfi East said the problem had assumed international
proportion and called for combined efforts of the
Governments of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire to solve it.
Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Local Government,
Rural Development and Environment commended Mr. Ocran who is
also a former Deputy Minister of Environment for bringing
the matter to public domain.
He said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had
undertaken research on the problem, which had taken wider
proportion and established a desk to monitor and report on
it.
The Minister said the issue had become trans-boundary as the
algae was moving from Guinea Bissau to Angola and urged the
Minister-designate for Foreign Affairs to initiate an
international discussion on the phenomenon.
He said the political conflict in Cote d'Ivoire had
inhibited discussions on the problem but the resolution of
the conflict had now paved way for its resolution.
Mr. Edward Doe-Adjaho, Deputy Minority Leader said
Government should look at the issue of harmful plants in the
nation's waters and coastal areas in a holistic manner.
GNA
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