Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has suggested that government should establish a special sanitation fund as part of measures to address the country’s sanitation problems.
“Considering the significant role sanitation plays in the lives of people as well as its possible health implications it is crucial that government of Ghana (GOG) creates a special sanitation fund (more like the GETfund) for long term investment in the sector,” IMANI opined.
[contextly_sidebar id=”w7LoNwL3gdVfMcL88boLb0hKfwUBZmLl”]According to IMANI, current sanitation investment in Ghana is less than 0.1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which to them is not the best.
“The sanitation sector in Ghana is indeed plagued with a lot of challenges, inadequate financing being the biggest of them. Sadly, the sector is highly dependent on donor support and the internal support is substantially very low which sends the signal that the country rests on its heels in carrying out an effective management of the sanitation problems,” it added.
Ghana in recent times has been plagued with a serious cholera outbreak which affected over 22,000 people and claimed about 174 lives.
Although some have blamed Ghanaians for the outbreak of the disease, many have also blamed the government for failing to release the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) on time to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to tackle sanitation issues.
In a bid to ensure clean and healthy environment to halt the further spread of the disease, government instituted the National Sanitation Day which would be observed on every first Saturday in every month to clean the environment.
The policy think tank argues that “increased investment in sanitation is required not only to realize the health and welfare benefits of sanitation but also avert the large economic losses.”
The recent cholera outbreak has been described as the worst one since 1982.
In a press release copied to citifmonline.com, IMANI said government must also set sanitation targets to help them work hard while calling for the sustenance of the National Sanitation Day.
IMANI further recommends that the MMDAs “must be proactive in identifying economic opportunities in their jurisdiction to raise funds for their activities especially sanitation, other than the relying heavily on central government and donor support.”
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana