Forum calls for coastal sanitation guards
Stakeholders at a forum organised by Save our Beaches Ghana have called on district assemblies along the coastal belt to institute a policy that will enable them to employ coastal sanitation guards to police the beaches.
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According to the stakeholders, such a move would help protect and keep the country’s beaches neat to boost tourism.
They noted that the dumping of sewage, refuse and human excreta, as well as open defecation by people living along the coast, was destroying the refreshing atmosphere at the beaches and posed a health risk to residents.
The forum, which was held in Winneba in the Effutu municipality, was attended by officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Prisons Service, fisher folk, as well as members of the public.
It had the objective to solicit the views of stakeholders on the best way to ensure cleanliness at the beaches.
EPA official
The Central Regional Senior Programmes Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Peter Nana Ackon, said the country’s 550-kilometre coastal belt stretching from Aflao to Axim needed to be protected in order to not endanger the lives of the fish in the sea.
He noted that there were many negative acts, such as the channelling of drains into the sea, excessive sand-winning, as well as open defecation at beaches, that had polluted the environment at the coastal belt.
Keynote address
Delivering the keynote address, a retired Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Dr Joseph Kow Ghunney, said it was essential that the coastal belt was protected in order to not affect the health of particularly coastal dwellers.
He observed that tourists had stopped patronising the beaches, which had greatly affected tourism in the country, as a result of poor sanitation there.
He called on corporate bodies operating along the beaches to join the crusade to keep the beaches clean by regularly maintaining the coastline.
Executive Secretary
The Executive Secretary of Save our Beaches Ghana, Mr Paa Kwesi Wilson, said the organisation aimed at conscientising the people to protect the beaches from degradation.