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The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah has revealed that, poor sanitation cost the country USD 290 Million annually.

In her interaction with the media at the “Meet The Press” engagement on Tuesday morning, Hon. Dapaah disclosed that, this amount is equivalent to USD12 per person per year which translates to 1.6% of the national GDP.

“It makes a lot of economic sense to invest in sanitation; every Dollar invested in sanitation yields USD 5 dividends”, she said.

She emphasized the need for a change of attitude and behavior, as they are  important contributing factors in ensuring that the cities and major towns are 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.

Hon. Dapaah in her presentation again 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 bye-laws as well as enhancing successful prosecution of sanitation offenders.