The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama has been appointed by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves as the new member of the Alliance Leadership Council, the governing body of clean cooking campaigners across the world.
The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Narelugu in the Northern Region joins the group of global leaders and business executives who are working with the alliance to help millions of people in the developing world to gain access to clean and more efficient cookstove as well as fuels.
Unveiling the Minister at a brief ceremony in Accra, Kwesi Sarpong, the Country Manager for Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves said the alliance was founded by a Public Private Partners in the year 2010.
According to him, the partners took the decision on clean cooking because it was killing people more than Malaria and HIV/AIDS in the developing world.
He explained that over seventeen thousand people are killed annually out of traditional open cooking and fuels in the developing countries.
Women and children are the hardest hit by the chronic upper respiratory diseases in the developing countries.
According to him, people inhaling the smoke from open and traditional way of cooking in the country have become major cause of death in recent times.
He noted that to solve this problem there is the need to build the market for clean cooking technologies.
He commended the government for the introduction of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) adding that it has reduced dependence on charcoal over the years.
He took the opportunity to thank the council for the appointment of the Minister as one of the ambassadors for the clean cooking campaign.
‘I am pleased to welcome the Minister to the leadership Council.
In an acceptance speech, the Minister expressed her excitement to partner the alliance to help create a market for clean cooking technologies here in the country.
According to her, this will go a long way to improve the lives of the millions of people impacted by household pollution.
‘I have seen firsthand the impacts of cooking over open fires and heavily-polluted stoves.
We must address this issue to save lives, protect the environment and empower women in Ghana as well as the world.
To achieve clean cooking in Ghana is possible because India has been able to achieve 75 percent clean cooking she stressed.
On his part; Julius Nyarko, of the Energy Commission says the commission in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority is developing standards for clean stove market.
He maintained that when the standards are approved by the authority it will guide the standards in the clean stove sector to help save energy.
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