News:
July 14, 2011
The use of contraceptives as a means of birth control offended the biblical command that enjoined humans to procreate and fill the earth as sand on the shoreline, Mr Balado Manu, Member for Ahafo Ano South, said on Friday.
“As a Catholic, I don’t believe in family planning, not the use of contraceptives,” he said adding, “after all, God says we must procreate as sands on the beaches.”
Mr Manu who was contributing to a statement by the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development, said the problem was not the incessant soaring of the population, but lack of attempts on the part of government to take good care of the people.
Government, he said, must be up and doing in harnessing the resources of the state to the advantage of the people and noted that God has just given Ghana oil to support the economy and also called on the government to use the resources judiciously for the good of the people.
Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, NDC member for Mion, said population issues must focus on quality of life, food security, health care, education and employment.
He noted that there was a strong connection between population and food security because people must be fed enough to give off their best.
Dr Mathew Prempeh, NPP member for Mahyia, said the key issue of population growth was food security, and charged the government to ensure that the good agricultural policies of the previous administration were not discontinued.
He noted that water security was a critical element of population security adding, the practice whereby mining companies pollute water bodies must be checked.
He said government must invest in water harvesting to ensure that there was adequate water for the people.
Dr Prempeh said government must pursue energy security by providing adequate energy for the population and enforce the laws on property right.
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, NDC member for Tain, said Ghana’s population was increasing while resources that must support the population were dwindling at an alarming rate.
According to him, trees were cut along rivers, making them to dry up, and called on Ghanaians to plant more trees.
He said government must take issues of education very serious because an uneducated population would rather be a burden on the state.
Mr George Kuntu Blankson, Deputy Majority Chief Whip, who presented the statement, said 2015 was a critical year for Ghana as she tried to reach the bench mark set for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He said the realization of the MDGs hinged on to a large extent the response of Ghana to population dynamics citing the example that there must be a strong correlation between high fertility rates and poverty.
“Failure to strengthen population programmes will put our 2015 agenda into jeopardy,” he said.
The world observes World Population Day July, 11 annually to draw attention to population issues.
This year’s celebration focuses on global population which is projected to reach seven billion by 2011.
AAF/GNA