Volta GJA pledges vigorous support to sanitation drive

The Volta Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has pledged to commit greater zeal and resources to enhance the high sanitation standard of the region. 

The association also pledged to promote a culture of cleanliness in Ho, to maintain its status as the ‘Oxygen City’.

“We need to sustain this advocacy as it has the potential of driving tourists and investors to the region,” said the Chairman of the Volta GJA, Dr Harrison Belley.

He said this at a public forum to commemorate this year’s World Press Freedom Day in Ho last Wednesday.

The celebration was on the theme: ‘Shaping a Future at Peace’.

Still on sanitation, Dr Belley announced plans by the Volta GJA to host a regional dialogue on ‘Keeping Volta Clean and Green’ to sensitise the citizenry on the need to uphold high standards of cleanliness in the region.

Touching on the theme, Dr Belley said it was a timely call to reaffirm freedom of expression, not only as a fundamental democratic principle, but also as a strategic instrument for building resilient and inclusive societies.

The Volta Regional Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, Dr David Esinu Yao Normanyo, who was the guest speaker, said peace journalism was a catalyst for development.

The audience

He explained that development was not merely the construction of roads or the expansion of digital infrastructure, but also the presence of an environment where human potential flourished.

The Volta Regional Minister, James Gunu, in a speech read on his behalf, said press freedom was a speech infrastructure, without which there could be no accountability and trust in society.

He said the era in which journalists worked in fear, newsrooms looked over their shoulders, and critical questions were met with threats was over.

Mr Gunu entreated journalists to partner with the Volta Regional Coordinating Council in shaping the future of peace by adhering to fact-checking before publishing, saying, “Speed is good, but accuracy is sacred.”