General News of Wednesday, 15 March 2006

Source: GNA

Chiefs, NGO walk to save dying Chemu Lagoon

Tema Manhean, March 15, GNA - The Tema Traditional Council (TTC) in collaboration with the Corporate Social Responsibility Movement (CSRM) is to embark on a walk to create public awareness of the dying Chemu Lagoon.

The walk, which has been slated for March 28, will take the chiefs and members of the CSRM through the streets of the Industrial Area and end up at the fore court of the Tema Municipal Assembly, where petitions will be presented through the Chief Executive to the President, relevant ministries and the Speaker of Parliament. It is perceived that the industries had contributed largely to the dead and dried up of the lagoon through the discharge of their effluent into it. A press release signed by Mr Richster Amarfio, Executive Secretary of the CSRM said the walk had become necessary, because all attempts to resuscitate the Chemu Lagoon had proved futile.

It said they would parade placards, which would bear inscriptions such as "The Chemu Lagoon Was Our Economic Livelihood, It Is Now Dead", "Our Farmlands Are Industrial Land, We Have Not Benefited", and "Our Workforce Deserves Better Treatment".

They will pass through companies such as Pioneer Food Cannery, Volta Aluminium Company, Unilever Ghana Limited, Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Textile Printing, PZ, Nestle Ghana Limited, Cocoa Processing Company, Ghacem Limited and Ferro Fabric among others.