By Margaret Jackson

August 28, 2013

“Ghana is blessed with good soil. We also have good sunshine, yet we always cry about unemployment”, those were the words of Ms Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer of the Stratcomm Africa during an interview with Radio Gold on Tuesday August 27, to highlight more on the free 4-Day Flower Exhibition, Conference and Workshops which opens at the Efua Sutherland Park from Thursday August 29 through Sunday September 1.

The event which will dwell on a sustainable gardening policy for Ghana, Gardens and Flowers for Beauty and Health, Gardening and Flowers for Jobs and Income Generation among others, and will formally open on Friday August 30 at the Efua Sutherland Park, has the 2nd Lady, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur, as the Special Guest on Honour, Keith Kirsten, The Guru of South African Gardening as the Keynote Speaker while Dr. Juliette M. Tuakli will chair the program.

Ms Esther Cobbah, who spoke passionately about the program made it known that in spite of Ghana’s good weather and soil we currently import flowers from Kenya, South Africa and Togo. This she said does not help a country that is always crying about high unemployment rate.

“We have these opportunities starring us in the face, yet we are not tapping into them for income generating purposes. We need to change this attitude. And that is what the Ghana and Flower event seeks to highlight to Ghanaians”, Esther Cobbah stressed.

Ms Cobbah made it known that it’s about time Ghanaians use garden and flowers to beautify the country in order to attract more tourists from outside. She noted that gardens and flowers make a big difference in the development landscape of every country.

So many participants from the gardening and flower industry will take part in the event. Notable among them are Florists, Horticulturists, Policy Makers, Landscape Designers, Pot Makers, Sculptors, Garden Furniture & Ornaments, Homeowners, Garden Enthusiasts & Hobbyists, Kitchen Gardeners, and Organic Backyard Growers among others.

Since this program is free and open to all Ghanaians, I will urge as many Ghanaians as possible to take advantage of the free tutorials that would be given on gardening and flowering. Accra is too dirty. And so are many cities notably Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Koforidua among others. Many residents care less about their environment which make the work of the Accra Metropolitan Authority and others on cleanliness just nothing to write home about. Cleanliness in big cities has simply become a mirage.

We have so many medians on our roads, yet the plants and grass in the medians look unkempt, weedy and disorganized. We even see many of them with litters of garbage. Some passengers in vehicles deliberately drop garbage in the medians, while nobody cares a hoot about it.

The frontage of many beautiful houses scattered in Accra also have pockets of weeds and water sachet bags but the owners of these houses seem not to care a tootle because they think it’s not their job to clean up. Of course, there are many others who have beautified the frontages of their houses and I will not take the credit away from them.

Ghana needs to change. We all need to change our attitudes toward our surroundings and the environment, therefore, the 4-Day Ghana Garden and Flower event is not only timely but the also the WAY TO GO! You need to go and experience the mysteries of nature which comes with Beauty, Serenity, Peace, Health, Jobs and Income.

The event has sponsors like the Royal Senchi, Access Bank, BGEI Africa, Hot-Trail Sourcing Services, Regimanuel Gray and NBC Ghana Trust. Media Partners include Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Daily Graphic, Metro TV, TV3, Citi 93.3 FM, TV Africa, Joy 99.7 FM, Business and Financial Times, Enquirer and The Insight among others.

The contacts for the event are 0241898658, 0273577757, 0244549420, 0244246626 or Email: gardensand?owers@stratcomm-africa.com

magjackson80@yahoo.com

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