Let's make Tema a clean and safe place

By Alexander Nyarko Yeboah, GNA
Tema, Sept. 21, - Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Chief Executive, Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), has called on religious leaders to use the pulpit to preach peace, togetherness and cleanliness.

He was speaking during a clean-up campaign organized by the Tema Ministers Organization (TMO), on Wednesday.

The meeting, which was held at the forecourt of the TMA, was on the theme, 'Clean city, clean talk, clean elections.'

Mr Odamtten observed that the pulpit was the strongest tool for peace and that if properly used would take away all fear from the upcoming general elections in Ghana.

He applauded the intervention of the church which, to him, has been progressive in creating peace in Ghana addiing, 'But for the church, the situation could have been worse.'

Mr. Daniel Titus Glover, the Member of Parliament for Tema East, lamented at the attitude of most dwellers of the city saying "they make refuse and dump them in drains expecting others to clean for them."

He called on the Metropolitan authorities to ensure that perpetrators are dealt with and that people are told to do the right thing.

Mr. Glover called on the Electoral Commission to ensure neutrality and fairness in the coming elections.

'This is the surest way to avoid violence in this year's general elections,' he said.

He again called on the security agencies not only to protect the Presidency and its appiintees, but to give equal security to all concerned during the elections.

He admonished against the politics of insults which, to him, was the panacea for chaos and violence.

Rev. David Nagbemado, Senior Pastor, Community Four Assemblies of God Church, and President of the Tema Ministers Organization, asked for transparency 'and no hidden agenda during this year's elections.'

'The choice is ours and that shouldn't bring us any trouble. It's God who chooses and man votes,' he observed.

He encouraged his fellow ministers to speak the truth at all times.

He indicated that God is Holy and his followers must be holy and clean.

He therefore asked Christians to help Tema become the well-planned and clean city it used to be.

He urged parishioners to maintain a clean environment by setting up environmental committees in their churches to monitor cleaning activities in and around their local assemblies.

He admonished the TMA to encourage pre sorting of refuse into organic and inorganic compartments to ensure that the waste materials could be recycled and properly managed.

Asafoatseh Nii Kakradawu III, a representative of the Tema Traditional Council, advised Ghanaians to be ambassadors of peace to themselves before, during and after the general elections.

'Let's prove to ourselves that we are preaching peace for our neighbours to know who we are,' he demanded.

ASP Cliff Ayeh Ofei, a representative of the Tema Regional Police Commander, hinted that during elections people create problems, but that the Ghana Police Service has been on top of issues since the dawn of the 1992 constitutional era.

He therefore assured that "nothing or nobody would destroy the peace and security we are enjoying as Ghanaians because the security agencies are firmly on the ground.

GNA