Africa-Press – Ghana. Mr Jerry Yao Ameko Adaklu District Chief Executive Tuesday stated that the Blue Water Guards initiative was part of a decisive national response to the devastation of the country’s water bodies through illegal mining and environmental abuse.
“The Initiative is more than enforcement, surveillance and policy, it is restoration, stewardship and preservation of life,” he said.
Mr Ameko stated this at the commissioning and formal introduction of 31 Water Guards under the Blue Water Guards Initiative at Adaklu Waya after weeks of intensive training.
He noted that the outdooring of the Guards was not only ceremonial but strategic and patriotic.
The DCE intimated that water was not an abstract resource, but the bloodstream of agriculture, the foundation of public health, anchor of livelihoods, and guarantor of future prosperity.
He said when such a scarce commodity was polluted, communities suffered, economies weakened and generations compromised.
Mr Ameko stated that the Blue Water Guard programme was therefore conceived as a proactive, community-embedded mechanism to safeguard the country’s rivers and wetlands.
He said it combined structured training, disciplined monitoring, intelligence support, and coordinated collaboration with regulatory and security institutions.
“The 31 trained guards are therefore not symbolic recruits, but strategic custodians of national assets who are empowered to represent a new culture of environmental responsibility rooted in local ownership,” he noted.
Mr Ameko who is also the Dean of Volta Region MDCEs, told the guards that their duty demanded discipline, integrity, restraint and professionalism and urged them to work in close collaboration with the appropriate authorities.
“You must build trust within the communities you serve and above all you must remember that the uniform you wear symbolizes national confidence in your character,” he advised them.
He praised the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission for conceptualising, training and deployment of the Guards, which he said reflected institutional foresight and administrative resolve.
Mr Stephen Agbo, who represented the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, reminded the Guards that they were being sent to work to end the pollution of water bodies and the wanton dedication of the country’s forest covers.
He told them not to connive with perpetrators of the hideous crime of polluting river bodies and forest covers and not spare anyone found violating the law.
Mr Agbo warned them not to abuse the uniforms and power given to them.
Mr Joseph Frimpong, the Volta Regional Manager of the Minerals Commission, assured the Guards that they would be provided with the tools needed to enable them to work effectively and efficiently.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Esther Buakumah, the Adaklu District Police Commander advised the Guards to be focused and committed and assured them of the support of the Police in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Eli Akpah, leader of the Guards on behalf of his colleagues, said they would work to justify the trust reposed in them and appealed for support from traditional authorities, Assembly members and other identifiable groups.
The Guards, who can be deployed to work in other districts of the region and Oti region, should the need arises were commissioned by Mr James Gunu, the Volta Regional Minister.
