Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL), in partnership with Africa Environmental Sanitation Consult (AfES Consult), Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR), has launched the Environmental Sanitation Research Fund (ESRF).
The ESRF is a grant that can be accessed by universities in the country to help in financing practical and sustainable research into environmental sanitation issues.
Launching the fund in Accra on Friday, April 30, 2021, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Professor John Owusu Gyapong, said the fund will support the country’s universities to research more into environmental and sanitation issues which continue to overwhelm the country.
Funds for research, he lamented, have been a huge challenge in the country; adding that the ESRF is a welcome relief to academia in addressing the issues of sanitation.
The Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, said the fund will help find solutions to the loads of sanitation problems bedevilling the country.
He used the opportunity to give a brief history on how Zoomlion came into existence, insisting that Zoomlion is aiming to be the leader in the whole of Africa’s sanitation space.
The Director of Sanitation at the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr. Anthony Mensah, commended the companies for the initiative. He noted that the fund will facilitate more research into “how best we can protect the environment from filth”.
For her part, the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Rita Akosua Dickson said: “our environment, our health and a clean community produce healthy citizens.”
She heaped praises on the collaboration, especially JGC, for the good work it is doing for the country.
“We should all collectively fight for a common goal toward ensuring that we have a clean environment,” she urged.
While applauding the companies for setting up the fund, Director of Research at the Presidency, Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah, challenged other sectors of the economy to also come out with such initiatives.
According to him, government will support to ensure the fund is sustained.
Mr. Franklin Sowah, who represented the Managing Director of GCGL, expressed delight with the initiative’s launch.
He said sanitation is a national issue that concerns every Ghanaian, hence “the need for all of us to support in making the country clean”.
He assured that GCGL will use its many brands, including ‘Junior Graphic’, to educate the citizenry on ensuring that their environs are always clean.
Furthermore, Mr. Sowah disclosed that GCGL will soon launch the ‘Clean City Competition’ in all sixteen (16) regions.
“…and the aim of this competition is to massively educate Ghanaians about sanitation matters, and there will be a winner at the end who will be rewarded,” he said.
The Managing Director of AFES Consult, Dr. Abena Asomaning Antwi, gave assurance that her outfit will give massive support toward sustainability of the fund.
