Kumasi East Rotary Club elects new executive
The Governor of Rotary District 9102, Dorothé Gounon, has expressed the optimism that the targeted date for the complete global eradication of polio in 2018 would be met.
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He said the global partnership to eradicate the disease, which was initiated by Rotary International in 1985, has achieved the desired result leaving only four countries still reporting its prevalence. They are Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.
Governor Gounon disclosed that in 1985 when the campaign began, 350,000 children were paralyzed yearly by the disease in 200 countries. To date, 99 per cent eradication has been achieved.
Both India and Nigeria are yet to record any case this year.
The District Governor, a Beninnois who is on a nine-day official visit to some 12 clubs in Ghana, was speaking to this reporter in an interview during his visit to the Rotary Club of Accra-West at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra last Wednesday.
Rotary District 9102 comprises clubs in four West African countries namely, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Niger.
Governor Gounon attributed the success of the polio campaign to the cooperation of more than 200 countries and some 20 million volunteers, backed by an international investment of more than US$ 9 billion. This, he said, has been possible due to the leadership role of Rotary International and all Rotarians.
The District Governor described Rotary clubs as the basic units of Rotary International, a service organization whose goal is to bring together people of varied backgrounds who can provide leadership in the delivery of humanitarian services and encourage ethical standards in all vocations.
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He said that as a secular organization that seeks to build goodwill and peace in the world, Rotary is open to all people regardless of race, creed, religion, gender or political preference.
The District Governor, however, pointed out that Rotary clubs have a policy of classifying their members so as to know the expertise and resources available to them at any given time. Governor Gounon said it was imperative on clubs to make conscious efforts to attract certain professionals not on their membership list to enable them have vast human resources. He stressed, however, that the willingness to give one’s resource is more important than one’s background.
The District Governor explained that Rotarian activities should fall under at least one of six areas of focus. These are peace and conflict prevention and resolution; disease prevention and treatment; and water and sanitation. The rest are maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and economic and community development.
He commended the Rotary Club of Accra-West for initiating projects that fall under all the areas of focus for the Rotary year 2015-2016
They include the provision of boreholes for five rural communities, distribution of insecticide nets, the provision of an ICT centre for a rural school and the distribution of books to three basic schools in selected deprived districts.
The club plans also to hold a public lecture on peace and conflict prevention and resolution during the year.
Asked whether the high profile background of Rotarians have contributed enough to the world, the Governor retorted, “Where would the world be without Rotary?”
He answered his own question by pointing out that a successful eradication of polio would save coming generations from losing over 10 million children to polio paralysis. “The contribution of 10 million able-bodied people to the world is something anybody would be proud of.”
The Rotary club of Accra-West is one of 35 Rotary Clubs in Ghana and 34,282 worldwide. Its 55 members are part of a global family of over 1.2 million.
Rotarian Amos Oppong Amankwah is the club’s president for the Rotary Year from July 2015 – June 2016.