Stakeholders in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in the Central Region have called for strict enforcement of sanitation laws, devoid of obstructions, to improve the sanitation situation in the region and the country at large.
They said Ghana continued to grapple with poor sanitation and its myriad consequences including poor health, poverty and death.
However, efforts to sanction offenders were usually foiled by political, traditional and sometimes, religious interference posing a major setback to the sanitation campaign.
They asked that persons and bodies tasked to ensure proper sanitation at all levels to be given unfettered liberty to operate to ensure deterrence and compliance.
The stakeholders made the call at an executive breakfast meeting organised by Miss Adjoa Gyakoa Appiah-Kubi, the Child Sanitation Diplomat, and her partners, World Vision Ghana and Kings Hall Media, as part of her one-year sanitation project.
The meeting brought together leaderships of Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
Civil Society, the private sector, academia, media among others to brainstorm on solutions to the sanitation challenges in Ghana and the Central Region.
The project is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal Six (SGD6) which seeks to ‘achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations’ by 2030.
Prof. Simon Mariwah of the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast (UCC), said the region was facing several health and development challenges due to poor sanitation.
He said over 300,000 people in the Central Region, including some schools lacked access to toilet facilities and practiced open defecation.
The situation often led to sanitation-related diseases and deaths, with a heavy impact on education, tourism and the economy at large.
Prof. Mariwah said there was the need to prioritise proper sanitation by investing in infrastructure and
inclusive interventions for all and called for intensified education as people practiced poor sanitation out of ignorance, not knowing the impact it had on them and the society.
‘And those who are very difficult to change after all the interventions and education, then we use enforcement to ensure we have a cleaner society for the development, health and dignity of our people,’ he said.
Miss Appiah-Kubi said about 10 per cent of public basic schools in the region lacked access to toilets or changing rooms for menstruating girls, exposing pupils to diseases and negatively impacting their academic performances.
Additionally, several basic schools in Cape Coast had their water disconnected due to debts which was a source of worry and contributed to poor sanitation and hygiene and appealed to the government and other stakeholders to intervene.
She also recommended the construction of mechanised boreholes to mitigate such occurrences.
Mr William Freeman Goku, the Regional Environmental Health Officer, said th
e inability to enforce the relevant laws without interference emboldened people to flout the law with impunity.
He appealed to citizens to be responsible and support governments’ efforts to enhance sanitation devoid of political considerations and urged the media to demand for accountability from the requisite leadership on sanitation to engender solutions.
Dr Ato Quansah, the Regional Director of the Community and Sanitation Water Agency, (CWSA) advocated for enhanced resources for enforcement instead of dialogues.
He expressed worry over the fact that Ghana had made only eleven per cent improvement in the coverage of household toilets in 20 years.
The Agency managed 36 water systems in the region and in areas where open defacement was intense, faecal matter could be found in the water, posing serious risk to the health of the people, he said.
Mr Quansah requested that sanitation be prioritised at the community level to attract politicians to take interest and support in solving such tissues.
Mr Yaw At
ta Arhin, the WASH Technical Specialist with World Vision, said that Ghana had not done well in sanitation as compared to water.
‘For water, the country was at 87.7 per cent, but for basic sanitation, specifically access to toilet facilities, only a quarter of Ghanaian households had toilet facilities. Apart from that, 17.7 practiced open defecation, he said.
He insisted that sanitation be made a national development priority, by putting in place the necessary measures to achieve an improvement within the shortest possible time.
Source: Ghana News Agency
