Environmental awareness creation goes musical

Accra, April 12, GNA- The Ministry of Environment and Science on Wednesday launched an audio/visual Compact Disc (CD) to drive home the need for environmental cleanliness.

The song, titled "Sie Sie Wo Mantem" in Akan literally meaning "clean up your surroundings", would be used as an educational and awareness creating tool to drum home the need to husband the environment for the continued survival of mankind.

Professor Chidi Ibe, Executive Director of the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) Programme, who launched the CD, purchased the first copy at 15 million cedis.

He also promised to purchase 160 copies for distribution to all the 16 countries that make up the GCLME programme, from Guinea Bissau in the North along the Gulf of Guinea to Angola in the South.

According to Prof Ibe problems relating to environmental sanitation was similar in most of the West African countries and hence the need to spread the music across the boarders of Ghana to achieve better results for the whole Sub-Region.

The Ministry composed the music, which was produced by Hush Hush Studios Limited with the Minister, Ms Christine Churcher featuring. According to Ms Churcher, music was a tool that most people often used in getting messages across to a targeted audience especially when all other means had failed.

"You can all bear with me that when people are interested in others, they often invite them to places where a particular music can be played to convey the messages they are not able to say to the other person face to face," she said to a loud applause.

"In the same way as a Ministry, we are turning to the use of music to urge Ghanaians to change from the attitude of littering, disposing of waste indiscriminately and all forms of bad environmental practices to actions that would promote good sanitation and cleanliness," she said. She challenged scientists to devise ways that waste could be managed properly saying: "Waste if properly managed could generate energy, manure and other things that were of use to man". Ms Churcher said if Africa was to fight poverty completely, then there was the need to tackle it environmental problems first and foremost.

"With all our efforts put together we can live a longer life on this earth," she said.