Dangers Posed by Obsolete Chemicals

Last Thursday, the Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University College of Ghana, Prof. James Hawkins Ephraim, gave his inaugural speech as a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The inaugural speech is a tradition of the Academy that sees newly inducted members give a talk on an issue in their areas of expertise.

Prof. Ephraim delivering his speech

The speaker, being a professor of Chemistry chose to talk on the topic, "The Dangers that Obsolete Chemicals Pose to Us."
Below are some tweets that captured the moment. I will do well to update this post with pictures soon.

Only 3% of chemicals used in Ghana ia not imported. That is salt! Palm oil is imported. Hmm #GAASInauguralLecture2013
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

Classification of obsolete chemicals via Ekow Woode. #GAASInauguralLecture2013 pic.twitter.com/IkzasK55kA
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

Does #Ghana have laws that deal with the management of chemicals? Yes we do! The challenge is the lack of coordination, & efficiency. #GAAS
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

Chemicals pose danger to: 1. human health & safety, 2. soil, 3. water resources, 4. general environment #GAASInauguralLecture2013
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

Options of disposing obsolete chemicals: 1. secure/lined landfills 2. lined lagoons 3. encapsulated facilities #GAASInauguralLecture2013
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

Recommendations by Prof. Ephraim. #GAASInauguralLecture2013 pic.twitter.com/Iohjpirng1
— Kafui (@Qaphui) June 6, 2013

There's a lot we can do as individuals to help save our environment, and safeguard our health.
Folks like @GreenGhanaian and @QwophiCedi are already on the way. Let's join the cause!
God (will) Bless our Homeland Ghana -- only when we do our part.
UPDATE: Here is a link to the presentation!

Prof. Ephraim with the some members of the CUCG family

Some students from Accra Wey Gey Hey

First-ever Barcamp Sunyani -- The experience

The first-ever Barcamp event in Sunyani ended almost three hours ago – boy was I blown away (no hyperbole intended). Ideas. Energy. Networking. These were all in full supply at the event, which took place at the FFRT (KNUST-SYI).

A barcamp is simply a FREE networking event that brings individuals together to brainstorm and find solutions to problems affecting their communities and propose ways of developing their communities and the country as a whole. A novel idea, don’t you think?

I attended my first-ever barcamp event in Kumasi, three weeks ago at the KNUST campus. What makes today’s event even more remarkable – apart from the organisation – is the number of ladies present. These ladies were bold and they cogently defended their ideas in a clear manner. Women of substance. Wow. The event also had a number of highlights:

1. A discussion on whether Sunyani is a worthy candidate as the capital city of Ghana? A number of positives and negatives were identified, but in all, we realised it could be the capital of Ghana if enough thought, energy and planning is employed by our leaders.
Sunyani – better known as the Sun City, is simply a town to love. ;-)
2. A representative of the Youth Council implored us to really take part in the on-going biometric voter registration and actually go on to vote. No sitting on the fence. From his speech, I learnt that the word ‘youth’ is not found – not even once – in the 1992 constitution! Can you believe that?
3. Mr. Agbozo, a lecturer at the Catholic University, gave an insightful talk on Entrepreneurship. He shared the results of a survey he carried out in his class based on priorities and surprisingly, achievement was at the bottom while love was fourth. Even learning didn’t place. (No surprise for me.) Good news though is that, barcamp participants decided to change their attitude. This I believe would diffuse and take our youth by storm. Go Ghana!
The next speaker was the General Manager of Eusbett Hotel, Mr. Mensah. He also gave a lot of insight into where Sunyani has come from in terms of development and the opportunities still lurking around. I bet you a number of his ideas would see fruition by the close of the year.
The BloggingGhana crew was also there to talk on their #iRegistered campaign which seeks to cover the registration and voting processes via social media (blogs, tweets, Facebook, Google+, Instagram et cetera.)
4. During the breakout session, a number of topics were discussed:

• How to develop the Sunyani Township?
• What GTUG is all about?
• How to keep Sunyani clean?
• The (correct) use of Social Media

5. A GTUG coordinator, Jojoo Imbeah, demonstrated how culture can be fused into technology. He actually used the Mozilla Firefox browser in Akan!
6. The last, but definitely not the least highlight was when participants ended the event by singing the national Anthem, “God Bless our Homeland Ghana…”

Participants are of the view that, barcamp Sunyani should be held frequently. Taking into consideration the number of barcamps in the country, I would propose that it is organised twice in a year.
God be the oga, oshe!