NGO, Church of Pentecost launch project on green environment
Aya-Green Ventures, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in collaboration with the Church of Pentecost, has launched a project aimed at sanitising the public on a clean and green environment.
Dubbed, “Pent Aya-Green”, the project, which would be implemented within a four-year period, would be financed by the Church of Pentecost.
Themed, “Torch Bearers: Arise”, it would involve massive educational campaigns on positive attitudes towards the environment while encouraging the public to intensify their efforts to plant more trees in residential and public areas, as well as along main streets and external roads to beautify the city.
The project is also to complement the government’s effort in dealing with the sanitation situation in the country.
Divine intervention
In an interview with the Daily Graphic at the launch of the project and a nine-member environmental protection awareness committee in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of Aya-Green Ventures, Madam Faustina Amuzu, described the current sanitary condition in the country as one that needed divine intervention.
However, she said it was important for the public to show the willingness in tackling the sanitation challenge head-on by participating in activities such as the voluntary National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise and all other activities geared towards improving the environment.
To that end, she said the project would as much as possible encourage people, beginning with the members of the Church of Pentecost, to get actively involved in the national exercise.
“We want to reach as many people as we can. So we are starting with members of the church and encouraging them to be sanitation ambassadors to help achieve our objectives”, she said.
Madam Amuzu, therefore, urged other corporate bodies and individuals to support the project by donating sanitation equipment to help make the project a success.
Get involved
On how the church aims to implement the project, the Madina Area Head of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Anthony Ahalivor, said within the Madina community, the church had 20 districts and 151 assemblies which would be used as a medium to promote the agenda of the project.
“We know it’s not going to be easy but we are starting from somewhere and using our own congregation to spread the sanitation gospel until we reach our objective”, she said.
He said members of the congregation would be advised on the need to lead clean and healthy lifestyles and its benefit to them, adding “we will also use the national sanitation day to gather all our members to come out and clean”.
Laudable initiative
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Abokobi-Madina Constituency, Alhaji Amadu Bukari Sorogo, lauded the initiative of the church and described it as a progressive change that had arrived in the constituency.
He said the country had so many bye-laws on sanitation which when enforced would go a long way to improve the sanitation situation in the country but the attitude of the citizenry towards the implementation of those laws was discouraging.
He said as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, he had witnessed the degradation of water bodies through environmental pollution such that they were no longer good for drinking, saying “If we are not careful, we would one day import water into the country.”
Alhaji Sorogo, therefore, advised the church to as much as possible implement the project to the letter such that the community would be one of the cleanest in the city and the nation at large and pledged to support the project.
The Chief of Madina Ogbojo, Nii Joseph Togbor Obodai II, applauded the church for their initiative and urged the general public to help make the project a success.
