Regional News of Saturday, 10 May 2003

Source: .

Nadmo, Fire Train 295

THE KWAHU South district branch of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in collaboration with Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) station at Kwahu Aduamoa have trained two hundred and ninety-five disaster volunteers in six communities in the district and they have passed out at Adawso.

The volunteers were drawn from Kotoso Asuboni, Adawso, Pitiku, Nkyenekyene and Asempaneye. Speaking at the ceremony, the Kwahu South district chief executive, Mr. Raymond Osafo Djan, congratulated the groups for their determination and dedication to serve their communities in times of crises.

He however cautioned them not to take the law into their own hands, but work according to the rules and regulations governing their job. He urged them to be vigilant and check any activity that would degrade the environment such as illegal chainsaw operation, bush burning, fulani herdsmen and many of such activities.

He also warned the fishermen along the Afram lake, who cut tree branches and put them into the lake to trap fish known as the "Atigya" to desist from such practice since such method depletes the forest and pollutes the lake.

The DCE assured them of the assembly's plans to construct transit quarters at Adawso for stranded passengers to and from the Kwahu South and Afram Plains districts across the Afram lake.

He presented wellington boots, cutlasses, rubber buckets and drinking cups to the volunteers. The items were jointly provided by the Eastern Regional branch of NADMO and the Kwahu South District Assembly.

In an address read on is behalf, the Eastern Regional NADMO co-ordinator, Mr. Seth Ahyiah advised the communities to form more disaster volunteer groups to enable them identify disaster prone areas within their communities and try to manage, mitigate and prevent the rate of disaster occurrences.

He also asked the group to undertake viable agricultural projects to improve their lot.

On his part, a representative from Eastern regional fire station at Koforidua, Mr. K. Opoku appealed to district assemblies to ensure that the sub-committees in the assemblies on bushfires function properly.