The Abibinsroma Foundation has asked the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to make climate change issues an integral part of the assembly’s plan in order to ensure a safe environment for the people of Tema.

The Foundation insists that, as the metropolis strives to develop the communities, the assembly should also ensure that the people lived healthy lives, which is premised on healthy environmental practices.

This was made known to the Ghana News Agency at Tema by the Coordinator of Abibinsroma Foundation, Robert Amiteye on the sidelines of the on-going Community Needs Assessment Programme organized by the TMA to review their activities for the past four years.

“Tema is an industrial hub, and we haven’t seen anything from the assembly in terms of climate change; Abibinsroma Foundation and the Coalition of NGOs in Tema, however, believe that climate change is of great concern and must be taken seriously.

“There ought to be a joint action to engage the industries on the amount of pollution they generate and how they channel them into the environment,” Mr. Amiteye explained.

Abibinsroma also tasked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to police the industries in order for them to observe the right standards in their operations to ensure a cleaner environment.

Mr. Amiteye informed that the development of the communities must go hand in hand with the preservation of the environment, and therefore the assembly should prioritize issue of pollution and not treat it as secondary matter.

He said the interest of Abibinsroma and the NGO fraternity in taking an active part in the needs assessment programme was born out of the need to demand accountability because civil society had a role to play in the development of the metropolis, “And Abibinsroma is here to champion climate issues.”

Other concerns raised by Abibinsroma during the first leg of the programme at Tema Joint Church included; the need to establish Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds even in urban centres to reduce pressure on existing health facilities, and the need to ensure community engagement in the wake of the Covid-19 vaccination programme to get the needed patronage.

Abibinsroma called on all stakeholders within the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana to partake in the Performance Review and Community Needs Assessment meeting to influence a sustainable medium-term development plan.

The Medium Term Development Plan is a mandatory requirement for MMDAs to engage stakeholders within their localities in order to have their inputs included in the four-year Medium Term Development Plan.