Former President, Jerry John Rawlings in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Forestry Commision have begun a one week tree planting exercise in parts of Accra to commemorate this year’s June 4 Anniversary.
Flt. Lt. J. J Rawlings led junior officers on June 4th in a revolution in a violent uprising in Ghana in 1979 that arose out of a combination of corruption, bad governance, lack of discipline, frustration among the general public and lack of discipline within the Ghanaian army and society.
Planting the first tree, Mr. Rawlings urged the Ghanaian media to use their platforms to educate the Ghanaian populace on the need for them to protect the environment and plant more trees in order to live long.
He called on civil society organizations and government agencies to inculcate the culture of tree planting to mitigate global warming and avert environmental degradation.
He is also entreating government and especially the law enforcement agencies to ensure that the environmental sanitation laws are enforced rigidly.
President Rawlings believes community policing is the best strategy to hold unpatriotic Ghanaians to abide by the laws of Ghana.
On his part, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies and Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong thanked President Rawlings for inviting Zoomlion to join in the tree planting exercise. He recounted how Zoomlion since 2007 has been partnering with different stakeholders in tree planting and clean up exercises.
He appealed to the media to continue to sensitize the people against tree felling and littering among others to have an enhanced environment in Ghana saying if the city of Dubai is the way it is today on a desert, Ghana can do better but not without the conscientious efforts of the citizenry to keep a cleaned and beautiful environment.
Dr. Agyepong asked every Ghanaian to be a watch dog to ensure that trees are not fell for construction purposes unless the necessary precautionary measures are taken with the state agencies.
He gave the assurance that his outfit will continue to plant as many trees as it can and support all others who will seek it’s collaboration in the environmental and sanitation space.
The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Samuel Ofusu Ampofo said the party was build on the tenets of discipline of which environmental care is one and considering the fact that the environment is being degraded on daily basis it was appropriate for the party to encourage tree planting towards it’s anniversary.
Over three hundred trees were planted along the Shiashie – Legon street and more to be added across the city of Accra.
