For God. For Country. For Us.
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Oh Boti Falls.........
Beauty is grand,
It is feeble,
It is elusive
And hardly, hardly,
is it ever tangible.
But it sometimes is, and it is in the beautiful park
of Boti where the male and female falls tread.
The savor of the
environment, the varied colours of the stems and leaves and branches, the
sounds of insects and mammals, the feel of the drizzle of the falls and the
temperature and the depth of what it all stands for, rise in a crescendo into
one beautiful melody,
A song of beauty, of
delight, of dreams and paradise, of
peace and of rest.
And where such
grandness stands, another wonder rears its head, the Umbrella Rock, held on its
feet by columns as thick as my hand and completely hollow.
We are a people who
are taken as peaceful because we hardly will do anything violent. Yet I
question if it is not indifference that has yielded our supposed peaceful
nature. And the place where the grandness of the Boti falls and the wonder of
the Umbrella rock come together, is a prize all Ghanaians should have been
proud of, it is amongst a few of the natural things that make us proud to
belong. Other countries that have them guard them with their lives, not just
for tourism but for identity. Yet not us.
We have littered
this inheritance with rubbish from our indiscriminate eating. We simply cannot
hold on to the rubbish long enough to dump it in a bin. We could not be
bothered.
But I ask, Can we
account to God for what we are doing to our country?
Can we seriously
point our fingers at politics as destroying our nation, when we are destroying
what inheritance we should have preserved?
What are we doing to
our country?
Yen ara asase ni
Eye abooden de ma yen
Mogya a Nananom hwie gu
For God. For Country. For Us.
Monday, 30 December 2013
Why are we destroying our forests?
DESTRUCTION OF FOREST AT BOTI FALLS
Ghana, our beloved country, is blessed. She has several natural gifts and resources. I remember when I was in primary school, when the teacher asked the class to name the minerals that Ghana had,we would mention gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese and limestone. With the help of God,crude oil was added in 2007.
In several jurisdictions around the world, natural resources are vigorously protected. In Ghana we are doing our best (I guess) to protect the natural resources we have. There has been efforts to plant trees and ensure reforestation (or so we were told), there are several national parks and a Parks and Gardens Department (is it still in existence?) in this country.
The commence of the oil industry brought a new challenge for organizations like the EPA and the Ghana Maritime Authority. I can't say they are not protecting our marine eco-systems from the chemicals and substances used by the oil companies, but i can say that twenty-one dead whales were washed ashore off the coast of the Western Region from 2009 (when oil production commenced) to November 2013.
Coincidence?
Whatever it is that God in His great wisdom has given us as a nation, it is our duty to utilize fully and not damage others in the process. It may be difficult to see how the death of 21 whales should concern us as a nation, but when we begin to understand the role these creatures play in the marine eco-system, the rate at which they are reducing in number and the fact that the death of big animals means that smaller creatures stand a lesser chance, we will appreciate how vital it is for us as a nation to be careful what we do.
Early this morning, i went to Boti Falls with a friend of mine. He shares my passion for nature, so we decided to spend some time in Koforidua and and visit places of nature. After a 15mins drive we arrived at the place. The place had changed for me, which was a good thing. There was a paved compound and several nice structures. Our guide took us down to the waterfall (where the water had receded because of the dry season) and we enjoyed the spectacular view of the waterfall.
We then proceeded to the forest to look at the cave, umbrella-rock and the three-stemed palm tree. We heard the sound of a chainsaw very close. We got closer and there were some men cutting down the trees around the compound of the waterfall. The explanation we got was the Government of Ghana has sold out these teak trees to some Indians for export. Really?
Look at these......
I have several questions. One of them is, why? Are we as a nation so broke that we are selling off the trees around a waterfall and its surrounding vegetation for some few thousands of dollars? These teak trees, irrespective of their use, are not going to be the ones to change the finances of our nation. If for nothing at all, the vegetation is part of a tourist destination. There are several animals, insects and water bodies that depend on these trees. The river the produces the waterfall itself depends on these trees for rainwater. So yet again, why?
These trees are several decades old and over a hundred more have been marked for felling.
These trees form a nice, cool and serene vegetation on the mountains around the waterfall. The stream pictured above, runs in the valley below these trees and is a source of livelihood for some communities around there. The water in the stream tastes wonderful by the way.
All the trees marked red with a blue number are meant for felling. They are numbered like prisoners on a death row.
I am not even an environmentalist. But I know that this is wrong, too wrong to be ignored. I was told that when the trees are cut, the stamps germinate again. Is that the justification? By the time the "new" trees will come of age, the stream may have dried up and the eco-system already distorted.
I am asking all to speak about this. We cannot allow this to happen.
For God. For Country. For Us.
Ghana, our beloved country, is blessed. She has several natural gifts and resources. I remember when I was in primary school, when the teacher asked the class to name the minerals that Ghana had,we would mention gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese and limestone. With the help of God,crude oil was added in 2007.
In several jurisdictions around the world, natural resources are vigorously protected. In Ghana we are doing our best (I guess) to protect the natural resources we have. There has been efforts to plant trees and ensure reforestation (or so we were told), there are several national parks and a Parks and Gardens Department (is it still in existence?) in this country.
The commence of the oil industry brought a new challenge for organizations like the EPA and the Ghana Maritime Authority. I can't say they are not protecting our marine eco-systems from the chemicals and substances used by the oil companies, but i can say that twenty-one dead whales were washed ashore off the coast of the Western Region from 2009 (when oil production commenced) to November 2013.
Coincidence?
Whatever it is that God in His great wisdom has given us as a nation, it is our duty to utilize fully and not damage others in the process. It may be difficult to see how the death of 21 whales should concern us as a nation, but when we begin to understand the role these creatures play in the marine eco-system, the rate at which they are reducing in number and the fact that the death of big animals means that smaller creatures stand a lesser chance, we will appreciate how vital it is for us as a nation to be careful what we do.
Early this morning, i went to Boti Falls with a friend of mine. He shares my passion for nature, so we decided to spend some time in Koforidua and and visit places of nature. After a 15mins drive we arrived at the place. The place had changed for me, which was a good thing. There was a paved compound and several nice structures. Our guide took us down to the waterfall (where the water had receded because of the dry season) and we enjoyed the spectacular view of the waterfall.
We then proceeded to the forest to look at the cave, umbrella-rock and the three-stemed palm tree. We heard the sound of a chainsaw very close. We got closer and there were some men cutting down the trees around the compound of the waterfall. The explanation we got was the Government of Ghana has sold out these teak trees to some Indians for export. Really?
Look at these......
I have several questions. One of them is, why? Are we as a nation so broke that we are selling off the trees around a waterfall and its surrounding vegetation for some few thousands of dollars? These teak trees, irrespective of their use, are not going to be the ones to change the finances of our nation. If for nothing at all, the vegetation is part of a tourist destination. There are several animals, insects and water bodies that depend on these trees. The river the produces the waterfall itself depends on these trees for rainwater. So yet again, why?
These trees are several decades old and over a hundred more have been marked for felling.
These trees form a nice, cool and serene vegetation on the mountains around the waterfall. The stream pictured above, runs in the valley below these trees and is a source of livelihood for some communities around there. The water in the stream tastes wonderful by the way.
All the trees marked red with a blue number are meant for felling. They are numbered like prisoners on a death row.
I am not even an environmentalist. But I know that this is wrong, too wrong to be ignored. I was told that when the trees are cut, the stamps germinate again. Is that the justification? By the time the "new" trees will come of age, the stream may have dried up and the eco-system already distorted.
I am asking all to speak about this. We cannot allow this to happen.
For God. For Country. For Us.
Yen Ara Asase Ni (Ghana Anthem)
Yen Ara Asase Ni
Yen ara asase ni
Eye abooden de ma yen
Mogya a Nananom hwie gu
Nya de to ho ma yen
Adu me ne wo nso so
Se ye be ye bi atoaso
Nimdee ntraso nkotokrane
Ne apese-minko-minya
Ato yen bra mo dem
Na ye 'sase ho do atom se
Chorus:
Oman no se eve ye yie oo
Oman no se ennye yie oo
Eye se na ose
Omanfo bra ne ekyerei
The English Version
The English Version
This is our own
land,
And valuable is it
to us.
Blood was shed by
our fore-fathers to acquire it for us.
It is our turn now, you and I,
to do our part,
Know-it-all,
cheating and greed,
Has scarred our behaviour,
And has diminished
our affection for our land.
Chorus
If the land shall
prosper,
If it will not
prosper,
It shall be the ATTITUDES of its CITIZENS that determine it.
Let's take our time to digest the words of this anthem of our dear Ghana.
For God. For Country. For Us.
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