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Regional News of Sunday, 24 October 2004

Source: GNA

Disaster makers sabotage economy - DCE

Begoro, (E/R) Oct. 24, GNA - The District Chief Executive of Fanteakwa, Mr Ebenezer Ofoe Caesar, has asked Ghanaians to desist from nefarious activities that cause ecological and economic disaster. Addressing a durbar to climax the World's Disaster Day at Begoro on Friday, Mr. Caesar said that deforestation by chainsaw operators, bushfire setters, "galamsey" and sand winning as some of the activities destroying the environment, which should be checked.

He reminded them that provision of disaster relief items could never recover the value of lost lives and items of victims and asked the public to pool their resources to prevent future man-made disasters in the district.

He said the Assembly would not deal leniently with landlords who release land to Fulani herdsmen without the approval of the District Security Committee (DISEC).

The Regional Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr. Seth Michael Ahyia, said the government was worried about huge sums of money pumped into disaster prevention and relief programmes, yet people continued to destroy the ecology to bring about disasters.

He called for concerted efforts by the public in disaster management so that disaster relief funds could be used to develop roads, schools and hospitals to improve the living condition of the people. The District Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Kwame Appiah Kodua, announced that the district had so far spent 40 million cedis on disaster victims at Ehiamenkyene, Osino and Bosuso, this year, to rehabilitate their houses destroyed by rainstorm.

Mr Kodua asked the public to plant trees around their houses to serve as wind breaks, adding that the district NADMO had nursed 500,000 tree seedlings this year for sale to the public to generate income for the organization. Oct. 24, 04