The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has called on religious leaders to augment government’s drive to protect the environment.

According to him, there is a need for churches and mosques to ensure rivers, water bodies and their surroundings are always kept clean and useful.

“The call by the Vice President for an active collaboration by our traditional leaders with government on environmental responsibility is awesome. Our religious leaders must be part of the tripod.

“We must ‘preach’ environmental responsibility in our churches and mosques,” he tweeted on Tuesday, June 28.

The call by his Excellency the Vice president for an active collaboration by our Traditional leaders with govt.on Environmental responsibility is awesome. Our Religious leaders must be part of the Tripoid; we must 'preach' Environmental Responsibility in our Churches & Mosques.

— Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh (@FAnnohDompreh) June 28, 2022

Speaking at this year’s edition of the Ohum Festival at Kyebi in the Eastern Region on Saturday, June 25, the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said it is the duty of the present generation to uphold and defend the ancient tradition of keeping the environment clean and healthy for posterity.

He bemoaned the present state of river bodies in the country, which he said leave so much to be desired.

“Today in Ghana, our river bodies are polluted with an alarming carelessness. It is either we have farmed or built so close to the river banks, callously polluted the rivers with activities of galamsey, or encroached the river path for human settlement.

“To overcome this canker of environmental degradation and pollution requires the commitment of everyone, including the government. In times past, communal labour and volunteerism were effective avenues used by nananom and local authorities to deal with the issues of filth in our neighborhoods.

"This noble initiative and activity, however, seems to be lost on us these days. I implore Nananom to work collaboratively with the local administrative authorities to rekindle that communal spirit to help deal with filth in our societies,” he urged.

He added that government “will continue to pursue efforts such as Operation Vanguard to affirm our commitment to protect the environment and water bodies."

"We will continuously need the support of nananom and the people of Ghana in this pursuit in order to rid our environments of filth.”