NGO rescues James Town beach fish smokers from ejection

Accra, May 2 GNA - Effective collaboration between the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Kissberg Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the United States, has rescued over 200 women fish smokers at the James Town Beach in Accra who were facing the risk of ejection following complaints by residents over smoke nuisance created by the smoke.

The Foundation donated 2,000 dollars to start a gas oven project to enable the women to smoke their fish under safe and hygienic condition as well as minimising smoke pollution in the area.

Addressing the women on Friday, Mr William Lomo Tettey, District Environmental Health Officer said there had been plans to eject the women to curb the practice because it was common these days to see people openly creating nuisances at public places without thinking of the effect it would have on the environment.

He said most often people were looking up to the AMA to clean their environment for them forgetting that in the event of an outbreak of a disease, "we all stand at risk".

Mr Tetteh thanked the NGO for providing funds for the project and appealed to other donors to assist the women built more gas oven to enable them to save their job and the environment. The representatives of Kissberg Foundation in Ghana, Mrs Priscilla Mercy Nketsia and Mr Robert Martey, a lawyer, thanked the AMA for granting the space to save the women and advised them to maintain the facility when completed in order to avoid recurrence of smoke pollution in the area.

Mr Anthony Adusei, head teacher of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Junior Secondary School, located at the beach, whose pupils and teachers had been most hardly hit by the smoke nuisance said the women's activities hampered serious teaching and learning and expressed his profound gratitude to the NGO for coming to the aid of the fish smokers.