Stop dumping refuse into drains - President admonishes Ghanaians

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that all the huge investments the government is making in the construction, expansion and de-silting of drains in the country will not yield the expected result if Ghanaians do not change their attitude towards sanitation.

“We think that the easiest way to deal with refuse is to empty our bins into drains.

That practice must stop. We all have a responsibility to ensure discipline in the way we dispose of waste, else all the investment the government is making in the sanitation sector will not yield the desired impact,” he said.

Event

President Akufo-Addo was answering questions from a cross-section of Ghanaians in Canada as part of his visit to that country.

He said while the government was making efforts to address the situation with the construction of infrastructure in the sector, it behoved Ghanaians to complement those efforts by changing their habits and also adhering to the sanitation bye-laws of their respective metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

The President further expressed concern over the fact that while drains and rivers were being dredged, some people still defied caution and dumped refuse into them, thereby blocking the passage of water, leading to flooding and the destruction of lives and properties.

Aviation

President Akufo-Addo said within the next two months the Aviation Ministry would announce the re-establishment of a national airline, which the government was embarking on in partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, and suggested that it “be called Ghana Airways”.

On security, he assured the Ghanaian community in Canada that the government was resourcing the security agencies through the provision of logistics, including vehicles, and also training more personnel as part of measures to help deal with emerging crimes and possible threats of terrorism.

Registration exercise

Touching on the ongoing national identification card registration exercise in Ghana, the President said efforts were being made to enable all Ghanaians, including Diasporans to register to ensure that their nationality was not in doubt.

According to him, Francophone countries had, over the years, offered their Diasporans the opportunity to vote in national elections because they all had national identity cards, adding that it had been a feature of those countries over the years, where card bearers were allowed to exercise their franchise in national elections.

Fake news

Answering a question on a supposed donation of $1 million towards the rehabilitation of the burnt Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, President Akufo-Addo denied offering any such amount to the Government of France and described the claim as fake news that was being peddled by some disgruntled persons about the government.

He, however, said the government donated $250,000 each to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe to help deal with recent disasters in those countries.

Prosecution

On prosecutions, the President disclosed that currently the Attorney-General was prosecuting 21 cases of corruption-related matters and explained that “the simple word for corruption is stealing”.

He said he would never abandon due process because in all his life he had fought for the rule of law as a fundamental state policy.

According to President Akufo-Addo, when those processes were exhausted, trials could commence, as some had already started, and urged that the judicial process be allowed to work.

He said the government would not, for any political reason, deny people the due process, insisting that he would never preside over a system that was discriminatory.