Hon Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings
Korle Klottey

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to comment on the Statement made by the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology in commemoration of World Environment Day 2025.

Mr Speaker, the theme for this year, which is Ending Plastic Pollution, is of particular interest to me because for the last year and a half, I have collaborated with the University of Ghana and we have set up in the Osu-Alata electoral area in my constituency, which is a fishing community in a deprived area on the beach, a pyrolysis setup which is meant to actually convert plastics to fuel. We do not discriminate; all types of plastics are turned back into fuel.

We turn them back into gas, diesel and petrol. I would like to take the opportunity to invite the Minister to come and see what we are doing there because he talks about repurposing plastics and ending plastic pollution. This is a fishing community, it is quite deprived and what is amazing is that we are incentivising people to actually clear plastic waste from the environment and turn it into something useful. In so doing, they are provided with a source of fuel as well as the fact that they can actually sell some of the fuel that we are making at the end of this project.

Mr Speaker, the fact is, the issue of plastic waste goes beyond the solid plastic waste that we can see. The science currently shows us that we have microplastics in our food chain, which means that it is making its way into our bodies. What this means is one may be thinking that he or she is going healthy and eating fish as opposed to meat, but he or she may be consuming a lot more plastics than those who are not even touching fish at all.

Mr Speaker, the issue of how plastics end up into our food chain is something that we need to address. Another thing that we need to look at is single-use plastics. How are we looking at the issue of single-use plastics? What are the alternatives?

Mr Speaker, one of the issues that I mentioned a couple of years ago when we finally debated the Bill on the regulation of the cultivation of—I am trying to think of the alternative word— marijuana in Ghana is that the cellulose can be used as an alternative to plastic. It serves the purpose just as well and it is completely biodegradable and therefore, environmentally friendly.

And so, I am mentioning this so that perhaps to some people who may have some kind of a negative impression about what marijuana cultivation in Ghana could be about—It could be an alternative to plastic which would not be as harmful to the environment; will not enter our food chain as microplastics; will definitely provide employment; will provide some kind of value addition; and we can look at exporting it as well. Some of the derivatives of the cellulose of the marijuana plant are used in the frame of some of the vehicles that we look at and think are so special, including, I believe, the BMW.

Mr Speaker, there are alternatives to what has become a real menace to our health, environment, and our lifestyle. Provided we are willing to be creative, we should be willing to support the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to conduct research in order to be able to provide alternatives that will be healthy and less damaging to the environment and to our bodies.

Mr Speaker, on the issue of the Tree for Life Programme, the Efua Sutherland Park, which is one of the last green zones left in Accra, is in my constituency, and is currently under the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection. I repeatedly asked questions on its use and unfortunately did not get any positive response, but I would like to reiterate the request that this year when we are doing the Green Ghana Day, there should be trees planted there. The Efua Sutherland Park should be regarded as a green zone project that I hope the Minister will take up and really turn it into something worthwhile to really show what we are talking about when we say we are going green and looking at how we improve our environment.
Most major cities in Europe and in the U.S. have a park, and the purpose of that is not simply for aesthetic reasons. It is also to absorb some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to make it a lot more pleasant to breathe and to improve oxygenation in the air. It also cools the temperature because the more concrete surfaces we have, the more air conditioning we have in any area, the higher the temperature of that area becomes.

And so, some of these green zones that we have in an area where finding land to actually establish green zones has become so difficult, I believe is something that perhaps the Minister could take up and make it a project that could really show the Government's political will towards protecting the environment.

Mr Speaker, with these two suggestions, I would like to reiterate the invitation to the Minister to visit my constituency, the Efua Sutherland Park, as well as the Plastics to Fuel Project that we have in the constituency where the Minister can actually witness the fuel. We may sell some to him so he can put in his vehicle.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah
Takoradi

Mr Speaker, thank you very much. First, I congratulate the Minister for bringing this to our notice and celebrating the World Environment Day.

Mr Speaker, I believe that the environment is what sustains us, and it is very important that we also sustain the environment so that it sustains us. Mr Speaker, if we take first and foremost the issue of rubber, I think that it is a menace that has bedeviled this country for a very long time. And I believe that it is time we scale up all the pilot projects across the length and breadth of the country to make sure that we can reuse or repurpose these plastics.

Mr Speaker, there are a lot of industries springing out of plastic recycling. People are using them for creating new cloth. Others are using them for tables and chairs to supply to schools and the rest. And I believe that is one area we should be able to do so. Mr Speaker, but to be successful at this, I believe that these projects would have to be fully decentralised. One of our biggest challenges we have in this country is that a lot of these projects are always centralised. If it is not Accra, it does not happen in say Adansi or Takoradi. And I believe that we should find a new model to make sure that we can scale it up across the country. And in every village or every town that we are implementing some of these projects, we make sure that we put the right systems in place, so that we can really capture and make a huge impact with these recycling projects.

Mr Speaker, if we take a lot of our coastal areas, they are always full of plastics. I mean, from the nylons that people are using to fish, to the ice water rubbers, and ice water bottles that we are using, we see that they are just littered across the length and breadth of our communities. When they get into the ocean, we know a lot of these fish also eat them. And we, the human beings, also eat these fish and then we tend to pollute ourselves. I believe that where we have this connection from the land to the oceans, we should strategically create a major project for all the coastal towns in this country; village by village and community by community, and make sure that we are able to capture these plastics for recycling. That should be a major project for the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.

Mr Speaker, the other issue about the environment is that in Ghana, virtually all our big mines are situated in mining and forest reserves. We are now currently also having a difficulty of illegal small-scale miners also entering these forests and devastating them.

Mr Speaker, it is very important that we also look at the way we manage our licence regimes. Mr Speaker, first and foremost, most licences delay. Sometimes it takes about three years for the licence to be issued. And when they are issued, because there is no coordination between the national, regional, and the district organisations, we tend to realise that they do whatever they like.

Mr Speaker, I believe that it is time we look at the issue of polluter-pays. If we believe that this deforestation is caused by small-scale miners, in virtually every district that we have in this country, we have the smallscale miners association, so we should be able to partner with them. The national organisations should be able to co-create something with them for first, antigalamsey activities. If we take the district mining committees, where we have the District Chief Executive, the police, the immigration, and the chiefs on these committees, we need to activate them and also embolden them, or even give them the power to issue full licences for miners, so that they can be accountable for the space in which they work.

Mr Speaker, if we are able to do that, this business of the disconnect between the national and the district in managing mining in particular, will come to the barest minimum.

Because then they will have the responsibility to make sure that if you are licensed, you take responsibility for making sure that right mining is done and then if there is reclamation, you take responsibility for it and do them. When a policeman is at the place where the action is taking place, I believe that we would have more success than trying to always use the Accra operation to manage local activities.

Mr Speaker, thirdly, we also know that when you invest US$1 into any reclamation project, you get US$7 output; therefore, I believe that it is time that Ghana, as a whole, was bold in investing because anywhere that has been devastated, if we are able to raise the money to invest, we would get seven times of what we invested. So, I believe that is one area of creating more jobs and opportunity, and we should not just do it like a ceremonial. Sometimes, we commission a project and then we do not invest the money. But if the communities, for instance, know for a fact that when the one million comes, they are responsible for making sure it is seven and then leaving the trees for them to make sure that they supervise them and grow them, it will help us.

Last but not least, there are people who also want to go into tree planting privately, in fact, sometimes, individually on their farms. They want to be sure that when those trees grow and they are cut, their family members or community will benefit directly from these trees. Unfortunately, in Ghana, when one even buys an electricity pole to his or her house, he or she is not credited with the amounts. Anybody can hook on to it. So, people are not interested in co-investing with government, and I believe that tree planting is one area we have to look for, so that people can individually plant one, two, three or four trees and look after them till grow. And when government gives the permit for the felling of these trees, at least, our people will be able to benefit.

Lastly, I know that when it comes to the issue of carbon credit, it is something that is coming up all over the world. Zimbabwe has made a huge stand in creating so much wealth out of it. It is time that Ghanaians were also educated about this money-making system. When we are able to do that, Ghanaians will be interested in making sure that the forests in their communities are protected because if government, for instance, this year, is making like US$300 million from carbon credit, we should go to the communities that are protecting their lands and say theirs is US$10,000; US$50,000; US$100,000 or US$1 million. Then the communities will be there to protect those forests against the illegal miners and the galamseyers. I believe that that is one incentive we should be able to deliver to the people of Ghana to make sure that we can get more carbon credit into our country and then we can use that to protect them.

With these few words, Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity.

Hon Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin
Effutu

Mr Speaker, I hold a view that— in view of what Ms Ayamba has said, this issue of paying lip service to critical policy issues must really come to an end.

Our friend Dr Murtala, who is a Minister of State, responsible for the sector, would need support. We saw in the budget how enthusiastic Government was in respect of the Gold Board where sufficient allocation was made. I think when it comes to technology and issues about the environment, we take them for granted. I have been hearing of this carbon trade concepts. I am not an expert in that field. I would not hazard any theory that I may find myself wanting. But I believe that carbon trade is one area that if the Government invests in, it will help us a great deal.

But unfortunately, whether we do not really understand the gains, we are not making sufficient investment there. Whatever that we can, we should do to support the Minister. But the initiative would have to come from the Hon Minister, through Cabinet. I do not know of the Mahama Government, but in the Akufo-Addo Government, when one comes to Cabinet, the person must be ready for palm for palm. There will be a full-blown debate. The fact that it is the same Government would not mean that the person would get things easy. So, the Minister should get the support of his Colleagues.

The issue that Ms Laadi is talking about is true. We often hear that production of cocoa has gone down. One of the problems, and there is a report, that over 60 per cent of the seedlings that they produce, do not survive because the topsoil they use at the nursery level are full of plastics. So, what she is saying is very true. I did not know about the ordinary farmers in the five northern regions, but I know about cocoa because of the Report that came, that most of the seedlings do not survive and they have been compelled to go a more expensive way by relying on cocoa peat, soilless media, where the coco peat —
I mean the coconut husk, is used as soilless media for seedling production and it comes at a great cost, of course. It is high in nutrition.

Mr Speaker, so the issues that are being raised as a result of the Statement are very germane but of course, I was not too pleased with the approach in an aspect of Ms Laadi’s submission where she tried to lace it with some partisanship, that was, for five years, nothing was done, in response to an earlier submission by a respected Colleague. That is our problem too, that every now and then we become jittery and we want to use partisanship to justify. But the problems affect all of us as a country. If the oceans are full of plastics, those plastics do not know NDC; they do not know NPP. The farmers who are suffering in the five northern regions, COCOBOD is suffering from production, and we play politics with it in this Chamber, when the real issues are there, it affects the country.

Mr Speaker, we are here, we promised the Hon Minister of constructive criticism, but it does not mean that we want him to fail. If he fails, we have failed. We want him to succeed. So, he should assure this House, before he leaves here, that he will prepare a Cabinet Paper to his Colleagues for Cabinet approval, and if it means we need to get the Minister for Finance to support him, this House I am sure will be ready, because without the Minister for Finance’s support, he cannot achieve anything.

Yesterday they hurriedly brought in this e-Levy for fuel, because they felt that that would help them in managing the energy situation. What about the environmental issues? I believe that if he makes a strong case, and it means some 50 pesewas being looked at, we can all look at supporting him, because this is a national issue. Well, it depends, because they themselves are not too, sincere on national issues. That is true. The Hon Majority Chief Whip can rise on his feet and then debate it. He has not because they said they were not going to increase taxes, introduce taxes and levies, but they did. They repealed eLevy, which was costing 1.6 billion, and introduced e-Levy that is costing 5.7 billion.

Mr Speaker, if that line should be off, that is fine— Mr Speaker, Mr Atta Mills is my uncle, and he knows how we relate to each other. Please, I have moved away from that dangerous part, he should sit down. I believe that as a House, if we really want to tackle national issues with a sincere heart, would advance the cause of democracy. The partisanship is our problem; excessive partisanship. We over-impose partisanship on us. We allow partisanship to take over the better part of our sense of national judgement. That is our problem as a political class. We know it. Else, we would not be here talking about plastic waste and the challenges that we face in that area. Else, there will not be less allocation for the Ministry of Environment.

Have we looked at the budget and how much was allocated to the Ministry of Environment? Have we? They have so much to achieve. Are we supposed to rely on the benevolence of Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other international organisations for our survival? And Ms Laadi has warned us. We are all consuming that waste, that poison, and unfortunately, when the cancer starts to show signs, then we will be blaming a certain old lady in our family. Mr Speaker, that said, I would want to encourage the Minister to rely on this House for support, but to make his own advocacy at Cabinet, and I am sure when that comes, we are going to give him the needed support.

Thank you so much.

Hon Godfred Seidu Jasaw
Wa East

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important Statement commemorating the World Environment Day, ably made by our Hon Minister for Environment, Science and Technology.

Mr Speaker, this year’s Environment Day is on a theme that is so relevant, “Ending Plastic Pollution.” As you know, the challenges of the environment that we face in contemporary times are so challenging that action is required for us to tackle these challenges and save our planet.

Mr Speaker, these days, we hear the frequency and intensity with which we experience disasters in this country and elsewhere around the globe. These phenomena are such that we will need to appreciate that most of them are anthropogenic and that is, these are manmade. And because most of these factors are man-made, it is important that we consciously take steps to be able to face this.

Mr Speaker, as these events are occurring, we are also witnessing other evidence of climate change. Plastic waste pollution is a huge contributor to this phenomenon and, so the sub theme, “Rethink Plastic Pollution, Act Now” is relevant and timely. I look forward to the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology proposing policy measures that are practical and actionable, and rallying all of us to be able to contribute to support him and his Ministry in these efforts. Mr Speaker, other contributors have made very relevant contributions already. And so, I just have two salient points to add.

One of it, Mr Speaker, is that when one travels, particularly to Eastern African countries for instance Kenya, one would notice that there is a deliberate ban on plastic use. And so, in hotel rooms, conferences, et cetera, bottled water is served. In shops and so on, other material bags are served and not plastic bags. How come we cannot replicate this kind of model for our country?

I urge the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology to consider this seriously and consider taking steps that can introduce this kind of policy. If he requires a legislative support to be able to implement this, I am confident that if we do the proper education, he will be able to rally the Ghanaian community around this effort. And by the end of his tenure, he can proudly look back and say it was his time that we introduced a ban on plastics.

Mr Speaker, I know that industry and businesses around this will not allow him, but if we are determined and can rally a critical mass in this country, I am confident that we will do this to be able to save the planet. The scenery around our seas and oceans and blue economy is not pleasant.

Mr Speaker, we have a lot of choking of this resource that is affecting marine life, our fisheries and food subsector that is so enormous that life at sea is at risk because of our very behaviour and the way we handle plastics. One other thing that I propose that the Minister and the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology considers is to see to what extent they could begin to inculcate the younger generation in our schools on how to handle these.

One of the things we are not doing well, Mr Speaker, obviously, is the way we handle waste. It is difficult to see how we even segregate this waste between organic, plastic and other inorganic waste. I think that if on a day like this, we can have some activities that could truly set a foundation and plant a seed of good behaviour on some schools that we can adopt, and get them to look at how important separating these plastics will be, that can be something practical that these schools from either primary or junior high schools can be able to replicate within three years and we can begin to affect the mindset of this younger generation. Hopefully, that will deliver some hope for the future generations.

Finally, Mr Speaker, you are aware, that plastic waste is being recycled and used in very innovative forms that we so need in this country. I have seen situations where plastic waste has been converted into coal for them to be able to use in tarring roads. I have seen plastic being converted into materials where they are used as pavement blocks to be able to pave other locations and outdoor locations.

Mr Speaker, to what extent can we forge an industry plastic relationship such that these linkages can be exploited to be able to use this plastic, not just as a waste, but convert it into a usable resource that we can convert to more productive and economic use for our country.

Mr Speaker, as we commemorate this day and celebrate the importance of the environment, I think that it will be important that we as policy makers are able to deliver on some specific practical actionable steps that we will leave this generation with, so that next year when we come back to commemorate these day, we can count successes that we have chalked up in the effort to reduce plastic waste pollution in our country and the continent at large.

I thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to this important Statement.