MP for Tema East, Isaac Ashai Odamtten
Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Member of Parliament for the Tema East; Mr Yves Hanson-Nortey, MP for Tema Central; and Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, TMA Metropolitan Chief Executive have pledged to address environmental issues, including restoration of the ecosystem.
The MP and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly have joined forces to embark on tree planting as part of the Green Ghana Project and also commemorate the World Environment Day.
The MP called for a concerted effort for a healthy ecosystem to enhance the livelihoods of people in the Metropolis, respond to climate change and ultimately stop the collapse of biodiversity particularly in the Tema enclave.
The MPs and the MCE, who made the pledge at a tree planting exercise at the Tema General Hospital, to mark the World Environment Day, said it was imperative and meaningful in ensuring that the environment and ecosystem are protected now and for future generations.
Mr Ashai Odamtten, MP for Tema East called for all to ensure that the environment, particularly the stock of trees in Tema and its environs, were not depleted, but help generally in the fight climate change.
“As responsible citizens, we must be partners in development and we must collectively show true commitment by increasing the population of tree stock in Tema and the country as a whole,” he said.
He commended the Speaker of Parliament for his role in building consensus and ensuring that both sides of Parliament to spearhead and lead the National Tree Planting exercise in their respective constituencies.
The Tema East MP said, “that is the way to go; we must critically consider the things that bind us so we can work together in the national interest.”
Mr Hanson-Nortey, MP for the Tema Central said: “Tema is the biggest industrial hub in West Africa and there is an urgent need to ensure that adequate trees are planted to restore the depleted environment and make it even safer to live in.”
He said they were embarking on the tree planting exercise not as political opponents but as colleagues who were working to serve the people of Tema and its environs.
Mr Anang-La, MCE for Tema Metropolitan Assembly, who spoke in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines said that as part of the Tema Restoration Agenda – an effort to bring Tema back to its days of glory, some trees had been planted to restore the logged ones.
He indicated that this year’s exercise had been taken a notch higher with a call by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for Ghanaians to plant more trees to preserve the country’s forest cover and the environment.
Mr Richard Anthony, Medical Director of the Tema General Hospital; Mr Joseph Kortu, Presiding Member; and other members of the Assembly took part in the tree-planting exercise.