The Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle Constituency, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings says her experience at the June 3rd disaster triggered her political ambition.
Speaking to the media in Accra, the lawmaker explained that by offering herself to help the victims of the disaster the call to serve came along.
“It was a very interesting situation, actually, because I followed through with the June 3rd disaster at the time I was partnering with TV3 and giving relief items to the victims of that disaster. And I remember while we were doing the donation at one point, I actually thought we needed to go deeper.
“In one of the communities, specifically Odorna which I didn’t know was going to be part of the constituency. As we stood on the truck I think I was with then Ghana’s Most Beautiful winner and as we were giving the things. I looked around and I thought there was so much debris and dirt in the area and it was strange to be giving relief items without seeing to the environment,” Madam Zanetor stated.
She continued: “Because of the sanitation issue, I could see disease outbreak while giving out a relief item so I actually got out of the truck and did a tour of the area with some of the opinion leaders. I said look why is the place so filthy and the complaint was that they were not getting the support.”
She also stated that you can understand people better when you get closer to them and ask questions with an open mind.
“When they do a clean-up they were not getting the support to clear the waste and so on. So it created a feeling of, why bother, if you look from afar you will assume that people are not willing to try but it is when you get closer then you will know people better. When you understand by asking with an open mind then you know some of the reasons people are not doing more than you think they should.
“That resulted in the huge clean-up and the rest is history. But that was not the intention to run as a Member of Parliament that I started doing this, it was just a recognition of the need to have a clean environment.”
The lawmaker indicated that there is the need to keep the environment clean at all times irrespective of the best hospitals around.
“Because there is a link, in fact completely interweaving between the environment and your health. You can have the best hospitals but if your environment is not clean it doesn’t make any difference.”
