Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, have begun a tour of some district and municipal assemblies in Accra, to assess the state of sanitation and waste management in the Greater Accra Region.
The three-day working tour, forms part of efforts by the government to strengthen interventions aimed at reducing sanitation-related diseases and improving waste management in the country.
The committee, led by its chairman, Mr John Oti Bless, visited the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) as part of its oversight responsibilities, to gather first-hand information on challenges confronting assemblies in the sanitation sector.
Mr Bless, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkwanta North, in the Oti Region, said the government was committed to tackling sanitation and waste management issues, noting that accurate data from assemblies was critical to finding effective solutions to the problem.
“As a committee, we are bent on effectively delivering our mandate, but this can only be achieved through collaboration with all stakeholders in the waste management sector,” he said.
Mr Bless urged residents to support the fight against poor sanitation, by keeping their surroundings clean, especially as the rainy season approaches, to prevent the outbreak of diseases linked to waste accumulation.
He reiterated that the committee remained committed to gathering enough data to inform national sanitation strategies.
At the AMA, the Director of the Waste Management Department, Mr Solomon Noye, revealed that the assembly was confronted by the lack of refuse containers at some dumping locations and delays in emptying full ones.
He said that in many areas, residents were forced to dump waste on the ground near overflowing containers, worsening the sanitation situation.
Mr Noye appealed to the authorities to provide the assemblies with more waste collection equipment, and suggested support for informal waste collectors operating in low-income communities and market centres.
“There is also the need to repackage the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP) to better respond to the needs of assemblies and ensure value for money,” Mr Noye added.
He further advocated for a review of the sanitation module under the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) programme to grant assemblies more control over the deployment of beneficiaries for improved sanitation outcomes.
At the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, the Municipal Environmental Health Director, Mr Victor Acquaye, said inadequate logistics remained a key obstacle in their efforts to maintain cleanliness.
He cited high operational costs, including fuel expenses for night patrols to deter illegal dumping, as a financial strain on the assembly.
“Despite the challenges, we try our best to deliver on our duties, but littering by the public, especially at markets, and the activities of beggars and mentally challenged individuals make the work more difficult,” he said.
Mr Acquaye welcomed the committee’s visit and pledged the assembly’s continued commitment to promoting a clean environment and safeguarding public health.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
