The government of Ghana has received a grant from the World Bank to help combat open defecation in the country.
The $60 million facility is to scale up the gains made under the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and the Open Defecation Free (ODF) projects which were initiated by government to reduce incidence of open defecation and improve environmental cleanliness in the country.
A deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, revealed this at meeting with the chiefs and people of the Daffiama traditional area in the Daffiama Bussie Issah District of the Upper West Region.
[contextly_sidebar id=”VK5Tkmx2GvRAYJhK8qbVuF5ojTJ2dVfs”]“The World Bank has considered giving us more money but this time around, the money will not be given upfront. It will be used to support those of you who will listen to our call to construct toilets in your houses,” he told the gathering.
The meeting was organized by the Ministry to sensitize people on the 8th National Sanitation Day which is currently taking place in the region.
According to the Deputy Minister, landlords whose houses are without latrines and other places of convenience are to construct such facilities and they will be reimbursed upon completion.
The project is expected to commence in the 3 regions of the North, parts of Brong Ahafo and Volta regions where high cases of open defecation are recorded.
The Odododiodio Legislator indicated that as part of measures to end open defecation in Ghana by 2016, Parliament will soon pass a bill to make all forms of environmental misdemeanors punishable.
“My Ministry is preparing a bill to be presented to Parliament,” he said, adding that, “when the bill is passed, it will deter people from littering.”
Mr. Vanderpuye further stated that his Ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fidelity Bank to finance the construction of 20,000 public and private toilets across the country.
The Ministry late presented 10,000 waste bins and other waste gathering materials such as rakes, shovels, brooms, wheel barrows and gloves to the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council for onward distribution to all the 11 districts of the region.
By: Mahama Latif/citifmonline.com/Ghana