LET THE AXE FALL NOW, AMA

THE unthinkable has happened. Encroachers are said to have succeeded in reclaiming large portions of the Kpeshie Lagoon and its mangrove surroundings and are selling these parcels of land to individuals for residential and business development.
According to a report in yesterday’s issue of our paper, the action of the encroachers contributed significantly to the severe flooding experienced in those parts of the metropolis during the recent rainy season.
Besides that, the encroachers are also said to have dumped garbage near the lagoon while others defaecate into it, thereby destroying its ecological life.
What really saddens the DAILY GRAPHIC is the fact that these illegal structures did not spring up overnight. And yet, as a people we turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the disgusting act until it has finally blown in our face.
Where did all of us go when contractors at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra were said to be dumping debris from the site into the Kpeshie Lagoon some two years ago? Or, where did we go when encroachers were said to be working day and night to reclaim part of the lagoon?
Were our traditional authorities, the district assemblies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Water Resources Commission, and other related agencies hypnotised while all those appalling activities went on?
The importance of lagoons to our livelihood cannot be overemphasised. Many of our lagoons do not only provide valuable resources to the local communities but also important roosting, nesting and feeding habitats for several thousands of birds and as well serve as a source of our favourite fishes — the black-cheek tilapia and the blue-legged lagoon swimming crab.
But over the years, we have either heavily overexploited these lagoons, reducing the average size and supply of fishes or turned them into a cesspool for industrial and human waste, thereby destroying every aquatic life in the process.
Certainly, these negative trends cannot go unchecked. And that is why the DAILY GRAPHIC wholeheartedly supports the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in its efforts to salvage the Kpeshie lagoon and restore its dignity.
As a first step, the AMA Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, says all illegal structures are to be demolished within seven days and we fully endorse this course of action. Sad as the situation appears to be, the DAILY GRAPHIC would like to state categorically that we have no sympathies, whatsoever, for all those who will be affected by the exercise because they had no business being there in the first place.
We think that as a nation, we would have to take a second look at the situation where the 1992 Fisheries Act leaves the management of such water bodies solely in the hands of traditional bodies.
Research has shown that the traditional bodies do not pay much attention to the lagoons and we, therefore, think other bodies, such as the EPA, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), should team up with the traditional authorities to ensure the conservation of our lagoons and other water bodies.
Our beautiful beaches and ancient forts from the slave trading days, provide the needed attraction to tourists.
We must, therefore, do everything possible to protect these lagoons, even if it means the provision of legal backing in order to strengthen existing regulations and practices.
Nobody must be allowed to take the law into his or her own hands and go scot-free.
AMA, let the axe fall and heavily so now!