BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE
Over a thousand
people took part in a walk for water and sanitation in Accra, Ghana on
Saturday, March 23 and also to commemorate World Water Day, which was marked
globally on Friday, March 22, 2013.
At about 7am, the
large crowd of people comprising employees of WaterAid Ghana (WAG), Guinness
Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) and Green is Easy Foundation, three
organisations whose collaboration brought about the walk, as well as student
groups, the Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana Fire Service, Police and Ghana Armed
Forces among others, commenced the 10km walk from the Aviation Social Centre.
According to
organisers of the 2-hour fun walk dubbed “Accra Walks for Water 2013”, apart
from commemorating the 2013 World Water Day, the walk was aimed at raising
funds for an integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) project for the
Akropong School for the Blind, Ghana’s foremost educational institution for the
visually impaired, which currently has a student population of about 400 and
over 50 teachers.
Explaining what
informed the collaboration with WAG, Preba Arkaah Greenstreet, Corporate
Relations Director, GGBL stated; “As a business we believe in empowering
vulnerable groups and communities through our ‘Water of Life’ programme, which
is one of our major corporate social responsibility focus areas.”
She indicated that
the target was GH¢79,000 and that GGBL will match all funds raised up to the
full cost through employee donations and support from Diageo’s businesses in
North America.
Addressing the large
crowd before the start of the walk, Mr. Harold Clottey, Deputy Director, Water
Directorate, Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, said the exercise
exemplified the theme for the 22nd anniversary of World Water Day,
“The International Year of Water Cooperation.”
“This walk
exemplifies the cooperation in the theme and we at the Water Directorate
commend you for this,” he told the organisers.
He said the
Directorate recognised the important role WaterAid Ghana and Guinness Ghana are
playing in providing deprived communities in Ghana access to water and
sanitation facilities.
“We assure you of the
Government’s support and the Water Directorate’s doors are opened to you for
meaningful partnership for mutual benefit, which will eventually be of immense
benefit to our country. I urge you to continue such service to communities to
stop polluting water bodies, so that Ghana, WaterAid, Guinness and other
private sector agencies, with government support that invests in water sector,
can provide water for all Ghanaians by 2025,” Mr. Clottey stated.
Esther Peprah, a form
2 student of the Accra Girls Secondary School who took part in the walk, said
she had joined in to promote water and sanitation. Disclosing in an interview
during the walk that her school had an environmental club with more than
hundred members, she said the walk was very significant because “First it
brings out the importance of sanitation and promotes water for life.”
Rosina from the Ghana
Prisons Service, who also took part in the walk, said she had joined the walk
because “Apart from advertising water for life, it is also a health walk that
can keep the body moving, so I think it is a good programme that everybody who
has the opportunity must take part in to keep the body moving and also show
that water is life and so is sanitation.”
She indicated that
although there is water at the quarters for prison officers, it could still be
improved, while affirming that because they as prison officers realise the
importance of water to the inmates, polytanks have been provided to cater for
any shortfalls in water supply, as without water most of their work is held up.
Giving his
impressions after the walk, Ibrahim Musah, Head of Policy and Partnerships,
WaterAid Ghana, said “It has been fantastic, it has been incredible, for once
in my life I have seen how ordinary folks, big people in society like Nana
Kobina Nketia, WaterAid Country Representative, Guinness Ghana Managing
Director walking for water to raise awareness on the need for water
sustainability and to raise funds for an incredible worthy purpose of providing
WASH facilities for the Akropong School for the Blind – I am satisfied.”
He said although
3,000 people were expected for the walk, they had over 1,000 participating,
which was still a good enough number.
For her part, Dr.
Afia Zakiya, Country Representative for WaterAid Ghana who could not hide her
joy at the turn of events, said; “This has been a fantastic day. The support
has been simply wonderful and people have become aware of the water, sanitation
and hygiene situation, so this is a fantastic feeling.”
She said the next
step after the walk will be to continue to have dialogue and keep organising
people, adding, “The voice of the people should be heard and hopefully that
will move government to act and take on its responsibility.”
Dr. Zakiya stated
further, that her organisation will continue to make people aware of their
responsibilities in keeping their water bodies and environments clean and
organise more walks, since it is also a healthy activity.
Adding to comments
made earlier by his colleague on what informed the collaboration with WaterAid
Ghana for the walk, Richard Ahiable, Corporate Relationship Manager, Guinness
Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL), said it was in line with activities employees
engage in every year to mark World Water Day.
“Two years ago we had
a walk, last year we had an internal event, so this year we decided to make it
bigger and in line with the world theme which is ‘the international year of
water cooperation’ we decided to collaborate with WaterAid and not just to
walk, but also to raise funds for the Akropong School for the blind,” he said.
“For us as a
business, we have a corporate social responsibility project – ‘Water of Life’
through which we give access to clean drinking water to thousands of Ghanaians
every year. So it was just an opportunity for us to collaborate to be able to
do a project like that for the Akropong School for the Blind,” Richard Ahiable
explained further.
He expressed his
satisfaction at the turnout for the walk despite other similar events like the
International Central Gospel Church (ICGC’s) health walk and Accra-based radio
station -Joy FM’s workout programmes and was optimistic the number would
improve in subsequent years.
World Water Day is
commemorated annually as a United Nations designated day, to focus attention
and to advocate for the effective management and use of fresh water resources.
To mark the day, walks involving hundreds of thousands of people and dubbed
‘World Walks for Water and Sanitation’, were organised in several countries
worldwide including Ghana, to raise awareness on the need for cooperation in
the delivery of water and sanitation services.
By Edmund
Smith-Asante
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