Takoradi,The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, says the government is committed to addressing the country’s sanitation issues.
He said the government since the assumption of office was able to layout measures to tackle sanitation issues.
The measures include the launch of the National Sanitation Campaign on November 13, 2017, towards Ghana’s journey to Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 (SDG 6.2) and the construction of 16 integrated recycling and solid waste processing facilities.
Mr Darko-Mensah was speaking at a stakeholder dialogue on sanitation organized by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) in Takoradi.
The forum, which was attended by representatives from the Ghana Health Services, Ghana Education Service, Chiefs and queen mothers and a cross-section of the public was to raise national discourse on how to manage and deal with the sanitation challenges in the country.
The forum, which was launched in Accra in April this year, would be replicated in all the 16 Regions of the country.
Mr Darko-Mensah said the government was also stepping up efforts at ending open defecation with the construction of 103,149 toilet facilities for vulnerable households in towns and villages across the country under the Household and Institutional Toilet Programme.
He said, in addition, refuse bins were also provided at vantage points in the cities and asked that people make good use of the bins.
The Regional Minister called on chiefs, the Legislature, corporate entities, Non-Governmental Organisations, Donor Agencies and Civil Society Organisations to come together to scale up proper sanitation and make Ghana the cleanest city in the world.
“We can do it! The day to day clean-ups in our homes, community clean-ups should be encouraged among us because we are custodians of our environment.”
Mr Darko-Mensah stated that he would support any name, shame and sanction initiative, especially realising that all sensitization efforts were not yielding the desired results.
“It is my hope that at the end of the discourse, we will be able to come with a communique responsive enough to the daunting challenges sanitation presents to our dear nation Ghana.”
He commended Graphic Communications Group and Zoomlion Cluster of Companies for spearheading the agenda, adding, “over the years, sanitation issues in the country has been a serious canker to deal with. The multitude of environmental sanitation problems in the country is alarming, and well acknowledged by all.”
Mr Darko-Mensah said sanitation issues ought not to be the exclusive responsibility of an individual institution but a responsibility for all persons in the country.
“For policy makers, we should be committed to enforcing the laws, make available proactive measures to deal with this canker but we also need the total support and good attitude of the citizenry to be able to make it successful,” he pointed out.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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