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The Mayor of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Nii Adjei Sowah, has hinted that plans are far advanced for the reintroduction and enforcement of a mandatory bye law of the assembly that requires every household to dedicate 30 percent of their land space to greening (garden or flowers).
According to the Mayor, this policy which has existed for a long time but has been literarily ignored is about to receive some enforcement by his leadership to make sure the Assembly achieves its target of greening Accra. Adding that in applying the law to the letter, issuance of new building permits will ensure that 30 percent of the space is dedicated to this cause.
“By law everybody who is building in Accra must leave 30 percent of land space for greening or garden but this has been abused over the years and nobody appears to pay attention to this policy. I must say that our commitment to ensure greening of the city and the beautification of it, we will insist on this requirement going forward when anyone submit their plan for building permit,” he said.
The mayor made these remarks on the occasion of the launch of ninth “Ghana Garden and Flower Show” by Stratcomm at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park in Accra.
He commended the Stratcomm for their resilience over the past nine years of organizing this all-important programme and urged them to continue with the good work to save the environment and promote healthy living.
“This platform should also be used to educate and sensitize the youth and every other Ghanaian on the essence of green environment and importance of flowers in our environment,” he added.
This year’s week-long Gardens & Flower show is being organized under the theme: “Nine years of green living,” and is in line to further deepen the agenda of promoting a greener, cleaner, healthier, wealthier and more beautiful Ghana.
Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, who was special guests of honour, emphasized that being green is connected to being clean and healthy, hence the need to strive for green living.
She reiterated that whilst the country spent millions of dollars importing flowers annually, the countries that we import from do not even have good climate and arable land like we do in Ghana, therefore a call to take our destiny into our own hands and turn this status quo around cannot be overemphasized.
The Chief Executive Officer of Stratcomm Africa, Esther A. N. Cobbah, emphasized that the Show has grown tremendously with the movement directly focusing on individual responsibility for ensuring a greener and cleaner Ghana.
This, she said is in line with Ghana’s green agenda and sanitation program as well as the global effort to address climate change. “Contributing to the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) remains a key focus of the Movement,” she said.
This year’s show includes educational and networking activities such as the Ghana Garden and Flower Conference, Nurture to Bloom— a discussion on women nurturing flowers like they do for men and children, Israeli Green Innovation Competition, children’s workshops, as well as fun activities such as movie night, music night, karaoke night amongst a host of several other activities.
Participants expected at this year’s show include policy makers, government officials, academics in the agriculture sector, business community, florists and horticulturists, botanists, home owners, estate developers and garden and flower lovers among others.
Source: B&FT
