The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecillia Abena Dapaah has revealed that, poor sanitation cost the country $290 million annually.
According to her, the amount, which is equivalent to $12 per person per year, translates to 1.6 per cent of the national GDP.
“It makes a lot of economic sense to invest in sanitation; every Dollar invested in sanitation yields $5 dividends”, she said at a press briefing in Accra Tuesday morning.
Ms Dapaah also noted that the sanitation services delivery in the cities have witnessed significant improvement in recent times.
“According to the 2019 report released by the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, 75% of the solid waste generated in the urban centres is now properly managed,” she said.
She therefore emphasized the need for a change of attitude and behaviour, as they are important contributing factors in ensuring that the cities and major towns were kept clean at all times.
The Minister disclosed that, her outfit has decided to facilitate the deployment of Sanitation Guards to help in the enforcement of the sanitation laws.
“Consequently, the Ministry has decided to facilitate the deployment of Sanitation Guards popularly known as ‘saman-saman’ by July this year in the MMDAs to strengthen the enforcement of the sanitation bye-laws to maintain cleanliness in our cities and towns” she remarked.
She emphasized that, in an effort to ensure strict adherence to the various national and local environmental sanitation laws and regulations in Ghana, the Ministry has initiated the process of putting together a comprehensive consolidated National Sanitation laws.
She said this, will serve as the primary reference document for the preparation of local byelaws as well as enhancing successful prosecution of sanitation offenders.
Source: Graphic online
