The Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Calistus Mahama says three months is too short a period to rate the success or otherwise of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise.
The National Sanitation Day which is observed on every first Saturday of the month was instituted by the Local Government Ministry to help address the country’s sanitation challenges.
[contextly_sidebar id=”M2Ahbum1pNxryXdwOKLBYXiTyh5JqhwX”]It was introduced to ensure a clean environment across the country following a deadly a deadly outbreak of cholera across the country in 2014.
There have been concerns the programme has been a failure since it has received very low patronage from members of the public.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Dr Calistus Mahama said the Local Government Ministry will strengthen public patronage with the passage of the National Sanitation By-laws.
He indicated that the Ministry will make a comprehensive reassessment of the strategies which have so far been employed to in undertake the exercise nationwide.
One of the new strategies he said will be adopted “is the passage of the National Sanitation By-laws which is going to make it compulsory.”
Government at the national level will pass a module by-law but each District will be given the opportunity modify it.
The By-laws will spell out the categories of activities that are supposed to take place between the hours 6 and 10 am on the day.
Vehicles and shops will be prevented from operating except those in the essential services like the ambulance, the Fire Service and the others.
The By-laws will also spell out the penalties for offenders.
Dr Mahama remarked that to a very large extent, “we will say in terms of the awareness of the sanitation day, most Ghanaians are now aware of it but the others side is how many of us participate and that is where the numbers have not been very impressive.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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