General News of Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Source: ultimate1069.com

Lack of policies is to blame for our disaster - Lloyd Amoah

Uncertainty in government policies on housing, energy, and sanitation and disaster management in the country is to blame for the difficulties Ghana is in, according to Dr. Lloyd Amoah, a lecturer at the Ashesi University

He made these comments against the backdrop of recent floods that engulfed some parts of the country especially in Kumasi and Accra, which has resulted in the loss of precious Ghanaian lives and millions of cedis worth of properties.

The excessive flooding has been attributed to insanitary conditions, galamsey activities and the menace of buildings cited blatantly in waterways.

However, Dr. Lloyd Amoah notes such situations are not entirely to blame on the citizenry if clear policies are absent in a country.

He believes that citizens of any country as part of their social contract expect the government of the day to work to improve their living conditions; emphasizing that, this can only be achieved if good clear policies are enacted and proper education is done for the citizens to know their roles.

He stated, “I always insist that policy is first and then you can bring in education; but here, there is a missing link where policy is not leading the way.”

He emphasized, “all across the world, if you leave residents of any city to their own devices, you will catch hell.”

He is therefore calling on government as a matter of “duty, conscience and social contract” to develop clear policy directions and rally the citizenry along those policies to mitigate such hardships annually visited on the country.

Dr. Lloyd Amoah has begun a campaign to rid cities across the country of filth beginning from the capital, Accra; with La as a case study. His organization, the Clean Ghana Now begun its campaign and clean up exercises in that direction in the principal streets of Accra some three weeks ago.