Ghana: Ghana continues to spend significant taxpayer resources managing the consequences of poor sanitation instead of investing adequately in preventive enforcement. Every year, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), together with central government agencies, spend substantial amounts on refuse collection, drain desilting, emergency clean-up exercises, flood control, landfill management, and public sanitation campaigns. Yet littering, indiscriminate waste disposal, and blocked drainage systems remain widespread.
According to Ghana Web, the economic consequences are staggering. A landmark World Bank study estimated that poor sanitation costs Ghana approximately GHS420 million annually, representing 1.6% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the time of the study. The report attributed these losses to healthcare costs, lost productivity, premature deaths, environmental degradation, and time lost due to inadequate sanitation.
The same study found that about 19,000 Ghanaians die each year from diarrhoeal diseases, with nearly 90% of these deaths linked to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene. More than US$54 million is spent annually on healthcare associated with sanitation-related illnesses, and approximately US$215 million is lost due to premature deaths. Additionally, open defecation costs Ghana about US$79 million every year. These figures do not include the enormous costs associated with malaria.
Malaria remains one of Ghana's leading public health challenges. It accounts for about 38% of outpatient hospital attendance, 36% of hospital admissions, and one-third of deaths among children under five years of age. Although mosquitoes breed naturally, poor sanitation-including choked drains, stagnant water, and unmanaged refuse-creates ideal breeding environments that can significantly increase mosquito populations and malaria transmission. Every malaria episode imposes multiple costs, including treatment financed through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), out-of-pocket spending by households, lost productivity as workers stay home sick, school absenteeism among children, and reduced business productivity and household incomes.
Beyond health, Ghana spends millions more every rainy season clearing drains blocked by plastic waste and refuse. Flooding damages roads, homes, businesses, schools, and public infrastructure, requiring additional emergency expenditure funded by taxpayers.
Rather than continually paying for the consequences of poor sanitation, Ghana should establish a National Environmental Policing Service. The Service would enforce sanitation by-laws and environmental regulations, patrol markets, transport terminals, beaches, and residential areas, prevent indiscriminate littering and illegal dumping, issue spot fines and prosecute repeat offenders, inspect businesses for sanitation compliance, and conduct public education on environmental responsibility.
A nationwide Environmental Policing Service of approximately 5,000 officers could be introduced in phases. The estimated annual expenditure includes personnel remuneration and allowances costing GHS300-350 million, vehicles, motorcycles, and logistics costing GHS80 million, uniforms, communications, and equipment costing GHS30 million, and training and public education costing GHS20 million. The estimated annual operating cost ranges between GHS430-480 million.
Although this represents a significant investment, the economic returns could exceed the cost through reduced healthcare expenditure, lower malaria incidence arising from cleaner environments, reduced flood damage, lower drain desilting and refuse collection costs, increased productivity through fewer sick days, revenue generated from environmental fines, and improved tourism and investor confidence due to cleaner cities.
Governments routinely invest in police, fire services, and road safety because preventing harm is less expensive than responding after the fact. Environmental protection deserves the same priority. If an Environmental Policing Service reduced sanitation-related costs by even 25%, Ghana could save hundreds of millions of cedis annually while simultaneously improving public health, protecting infrastructure, and enhancing national productivity.
The question is not whether Ghana can afford to establish an Environmental Policing Service. The real question is whether Ghana can continue to afford the enormous financial, health, and environmental costs of poor sanitation. A preventive, professionally managed Environmental Policing Service would transform sanitation enforcement from an occasional exercise into a permanent national institution. Such an investment would protect taxpayers' money, reduce the burden of malaria and other sanitation-related diseases, safeguard public infrastructure, and contribute significantly to national development. A cleaner Ghana is not merely an environmental objective-it is an economic necessity.