A Minister of State at the presidency, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has charged Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to stop issuing building permits to households without sanitary facilities.
According to him, it is unpardonable to have homes in urban centers without toilets; a situation he said encourages open defecation.
The minister recounted how Ghana in 2014, battled with the cholera outbreak, which was triggered by insanitary conditions and open defecation.
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah made the call at the launch of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme dubbed Catalyzing WASH from Possible to Profitable ( P2P) in Accra on Tuesday.
The project jointly funded by the Netherlands Government and the Government of Ghana has established a four million Euro fund, which will be disbursed to over 3,000 households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana to enable them provide sanitary facilities.
The minister said the project will go a long way to reduce open defecation in the country and prevent the spread of sanitation related diseases.
“As a lower middle-income country that has a lot of respect all over the world, there are things that we should be able to manage better. On one hand when it comes to sanitation in terms of refuse disposal we are working on it but on toilets, we have to admit we are deficient and therefore we need to put in more effort,” Elvis Afriyie Ankrah noted.
He suggested, “I don’t see how anybody will build a house and decide that there will be no toilet. That’s why I’m saying that you should not give anybody a building permit if they do not have toilet, that thing should not happen again.”
Mr. Ankrah while expressing gratitudeto the Netherlands government for initiating the project, further charged MMDAs to enforce sanitation by-laws.
For his part, the Ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, Hans Docter said though the P2P project has been initiated, change in attitude and mindset is needed to end open defecation in the country.
“We feel it is an urgent issue and from the Dutch Embassy we have been committed to finding new solutions because government funding alone cannot solve this, mentalities have to change, and the private sector has to play its role.”
“We are ensuring that those who want to have toilets and are prepared to pay for it but cannot put up the money upfront to realize that they can get a toilet. That is what the P2P seeks to do,” he said adding that there was the need “to stop people in urban areas to stop open defecation because people are dying every day from diseases that can be prevented,” he added.
About P2P
P2P is an innovative access to finance project for WASH under the Ghana Netherlands WASH programme (GNWP).
The project is scaling-up access to finance and technical assistance for small and medium enterprises and households in Ghana.
The goal is to increase access to WASH products and services by urban and rural households in Ghana.
The Project is implemented by the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) in collaboration with Fidelity Bank as the fund manager.
It is expected to serve as a model for a finance and private sector driven approach to sanitation financing in Ghana
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citimfmonline.com