The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has called on law makers within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to work towards finding solutions to plastic waste menace.
Speaking at the 6th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament Delocalised Meeting of the Joint Committee at Winneba the Central Region, Mr. Afenyo-Markin said plastic waste management is a common concern inherent in all modern societies, particularly urban societies.
“From Dakar to Lagos, via Niamey, Accra, and Abidjan, every city is affected by plastic waste.
“The situation is the same in Ghana. On a national level, we could have asked ourselves how to solve this problem,” he said.
He said given its cross-border nature, a community solution must be envisaged in addressing the plastic waste problem.
“I don’t want to pre-empt all the experts here to debate this, but from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank you for the relevance of this subject.
“It’s not a divisive issue, but one that affects our daily lives and has consequences for our populations, environments, agriculture, and infrastructure, to name but a few sectors,” he stressed.
He used the opportunity to thank the members of the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy and Mines and Infrastructure Committees for proposing the topic for solutions for the entire West African region.
“As you can see, thinking about and proposing holistic solutions to limit the consequences of challenges associated with plastic waste is colossal, but exhilarating and exciting because it involves putting ourselves at the service of our populations and thinking about their well-being. For us Members of this Sixth Legislature, this is the very meaning of our mandate in Parliament,” he added.
The main theme of the meeting is “Plastic Waste Management: Challenges and Prospects in Implementing Community Policies,” and would be addressed by a tall list of experts on the subject.
Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has been invited as special guest of honour.
At the end of the sessions, members would be informed on the systems and strategies by which ECOWAS would be resolving the challenges associated with environmentally sound management of plastic waste in the West African region.
The meeting is also expected to make recommendations to the ECOWAS Commission on how to improve legislations within the community to ensure coordinated implementation of environmental management policies and integrated management plans for chemicals and hazardous waste.
The delocalised meetings of the committees are always organised in the member states to enhance the visibility of the ECOWAS Parliament and its activities, and to also discuss issues and programmes that relates to the development and integration process of ECOWAS.
A Daily Guide Report