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Boti Falls losing its beauty, relevance …due to bad roads

Boti Falls

Boti Falls

The Eastern regions’ tourism pride, the Boti Falls, the only twin water falls in Ghana is under serious threat of losing its beauty and relevance on the world’s tourism map.

The problem is not illegal felling of trees, bush fires or land litiga­tions that have been a threat for its survival.

Portion of road with portholes from Huhunya junction to Boti Falls
Portion of road with portholes from Huhunya junction to Boti Falls

The biggest concern for tourists and other visitors to the place has been the bad road network to the Falls.

“Very soon, there would not be any Boti Falls in Ghana because there would be no access road to the place,”Dade Mantse Kwame Teye Okletey told The Spectator in a chat.

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portion of road with portholes from Huhunya junction to Boti Falls

Dade Mantse Okletey made the appeal at this year’s Eastern Region­al World Tourism Day celebration at the Boti Falls Resort last Wednesday.

“The road network to the Falls is making it unattractive for people to participate in any activity there”

Dade MantseOkletey(seated first right) and other stakeholders after the event
Dade MantseOkletey(seated first right) and other stakeholders after the event

The Falls has been created by the Pawnpawn River which takes its source from a mountain at the Ahenkwa-Amalakpo Forest Reserve before falling over an igneous rock outcrop at Boti Langmase, near Huhunya Forest Reserve in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region.

The facility is located about 17 kilometres north-east of Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, about 30 minutes’ drive from Koforidua an­dan hour andhalf drive from Accra.

Due to the bad nature of the road, there have been frequent break-down of both commercial and private vehicles, school buses, researchers and tourist vehicles visiting the sight.

“The road to the Falls is so bad that visitors have refused to visit the place for fear that their vehi­cles would break down” he said.

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He advised the government to turn its eye to the tourism sector, especially the Boti Falls to enable more tourists to visit the facility to generate income for the country.

Speaking on the theme for the celebration, “Tourism and Green In­vestment” the Dade Mantsesaid, his people could ‘green’ the area but the bad road network would make it unattractive for tourists to drive through it.

, Dade Mantse Okletey urged the inhabitants of the area not to leave the tourist sites in the hands of poli­ticians because governments would go and come but the sites would still be there to generate employ­ment and revenue for them.

The Eastern Regional Director of Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Madam Dinah AduOwusu said the environment was getting degraded and tourist sites were also being threatened, the reason this year’s tourism day celebration theme was chosen to inform the citizenry to plant more trees.

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She said the 2023 National Tour­ism Day celebration was held at Ada in the Volta Region and commended the Forestry Commission for provid­ing seedlings to the Eastern region for planting to commemorate the occasion.

The Manager of the Boti Falls Resort, Mrs Irene AkuaDjandjoe also expressed concern about the road network to the Resort and appealed to the Assembly to rehabilitate it for commuters.

She said, Kingdom Ventures, man­agers of the facility had invested huge sums of money to bring the Falls to at least International stan­dard but the bad road was posing a great challenge to realising that.

A driver, Daniel Teye who ply Ko­foridua to Boti said the fare is GhȻ 15.00 but due to the nature of the road they do not get passengers.

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He said a journey of about 30 minutes sometimes takes two hours depending on the number of passen­gers in the vehicle.

Daniel Teye appealed to the government to come to their aid, saying he sometimes fear for the sick and pregnant women since it is very difficult to get vehicles to convey them to access health care in the city.

 From Samuel OpareLartey, Boti Falls, Huhunya

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Small-scale miners schooled on health hazards of mining with mercury

• Mr Lovelace Sarpong (right) addressing the participants

Mr Lovelace Sarpong (right) addressing the participants

Some Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners in the Ashanti and Central regions have been sensitised on the potential health dangers humans are exposed to with the use of mercu­ry in gold processing.

The sensitisation which was or­ganised by PlanetGOLD Ghana proj­ect was to raise awareness about the negative impacts on the use of mercury in mining activities.

According to the PlanetGOLD Ghana Project Coordinator, Mr Lovelace Sar­pong, the use of mercury in artisanal small-scale mining pose health challeng­es that affects the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys; and may be fatal.

Some Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) that benefited from the exercise were Amansie Central, Asante Akim North, Amansie South, Amansie West, Bekwai, and Adansi North in the Ashanti Region, and Upper Denkyira East (Dunkwa-on-Offin) and Upper Denkyira West (Diaso) in the Central Region.

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Additionally, he said inorganic salts of mercury were corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.

He stated that the PlanetGOLD Project has conducted several ini­tiatives to raise awareness on reducing mercury exposure among artisanal and small-scale gold mining actors in the country.

It was to promote mercury-free mining practices in line with Ghana’s obligations under the Minamata Con­vention on Mercury, support the for­malisation of the ASGM sector while advocating the adoption of the CRAFT Code and responsible supply chains, and raise awareness on the availabili­ty of mercury-free alternatives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Area Head for Konongo, Mr Dawood Abbas, underscored the importance of government’s environ­mental regulations and EPA’s role in ensuring compliance within the ASGM sector.

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He encouraged miners to prioritise environmental stewardship to gain community trust and secure a Social License to Operate (SLO) and reaf­firmed the Agency’s commitment to enforce its commitments under the Minamata Convention.

 BY Cecilia Lagba Yada

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Entertainment

Stonebwoy releases sixth studio album ‘Up & Running’

Ghanaian multiple award-winning musician, Stonebwoy is out with his sixth studio album dubbed ‘Up & Running.’

As part of the release Stonebwoy performed various songs on the album to patrons at a special listening party last night.

The listening party held at the Alora Beach in Accra brought together Industry players, musicians, actors, corporate Ghana, diplomats and fans of Stonebwoy among others.

The album is made up of songs like, Memories, Pray For Me, Jejereje, Overload remix, Shine, Psalm 23, Betta Tin, Your Body, Geography, Shine, Lovely Weather, Jiggle and White, Ekelebe and Fvck Up Summer.

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 ‘Up & Running’ features the top musicians such as Duncan Mighty, Ir Sais, Spice, Amaria BB, Jahmiel, 10TIK, Larruso, Chi Ching Ching, Kaylan Arnold, and Blvk H3ro, Wyclef Jean and ODUMODUBLVCK.

The album, which includes diverse songs for different target markets, shows Stonebwoy’s calculated effort to reach out to wider and new audiences around the world.

Stonebwoy is expected to hit the road in a global tour with his new album, ‘Up & Running.’

The colourful event was attended by industry personalities like Fred Nuamah, Andy Dosty, Keche, Bullgod, Nadia Buari, Nana McBrown,Kwaw Kese,Robert Klah,D-Black, Larusso and many others.

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By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme

Enjoy the album below

UP & RUNNIN6 – ALBUM OUT NOW! ♨️

stonebwoy.lnk.to/UXR6

#UPXRUNNIN6 #UPXRUNNIN6Album

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