It Largely Depends On Ghanaians To Help Prez Akufo-Addo Win Sanitation Fight - Hon. Patrick Boamah

Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Hon. Patrick Yaw Boamah has indicated that it will take the involvement of Ghanaians to help President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to win the fight against the challenges of sanitation confronting the country.

He explained that the involvement of Ghanaians has to do with attitudinal change by stopping open defecation, desisting from throwing garbage into open gutters and ending littering around as these lifestyles are hindrance to making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

Speaking to Peacefmonline.com in an exclusive interview after the ‘Meet The Press’ series at the Ministry of Information conference room, the Okaikoi Central lawmaker alerted that a lot of plans have been put in place by President Akufo-Addo to address sanitation problems in the country, adding the success of the plans largely depends on the citizens and the government.

He reiterated that as people continue to litter around, dump sachet rubbers in gutters and openly defecate; these lifestyles will be impediment on the way of Akufo-Addo government to fight against sanitation in the country.

“A lot of plans have been put in place but the success of the plans of government largely depends on the citizens as people continue to litter around, dump sachet rubbers in gutters and openly defecate; thus all these lifestyles don’t help in the fight against sanitation in the country. These same people sit behind their televisions to complain that the country is filthy. Who did it? We all did it to ourselves”, he opined.

He therefore all and sundry especially the media to always help in the awareness creation about the lifestyle which affect sanitation of the country to make the vision of President Akufo-Addo wiping out filth in Accra become a reality in order for the next generation to be proud of their forefathers for adhering to the plans of President Akufo-Addo.

“...so that one day, the next generation will be proud of their forefathers for adhering to the plans of President Akufo-Addo to making the country clean and free from sickness amidst the use of modern technology to get rid of filth in the country”, he stated.

Touching on the commitment of President Akufo-Addo to address the issue of sanitation in the country, Hon. Boamah pointed out that it informed the bold decision to set up of the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation to help solve the sanitation and water problems in the country.

He stressed that “whatever the ministry has been doing so far is part of the general plan of President Akufo-Addo and his government concerning the sanitation and water problems in the country.

The Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation has as part of President Akufo-Addo vision to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa adopted strategies and measures in collaboration with MMDAs, the private sector and other stakeholders to improve on the sanitation situation in the country.

He again mentioned that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has stepped up its monitoring efforts to ensure enhanced service delivery by the MMDAs, members of the Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA) within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) in particular and across the whole country in general.

“The Ministry has introduced a system of performance monitoring and ranking to incentivize the MMDAs to up their game and also sanction non-performance”, he indicated.

The Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources however reminded that “sanitation work is not an event; it is a process and we have started the process and we will continue to appreciate the work of the media in the course of exterminating issues regarding sanitation in the country”.