Dr. Agyepong, who made these remarks at a stakeholders’ forum on sanitation organized in Accra, revealed that improper waste storage continues to hinder the progress of work done by the contracted waste collectors.

He said “when these wastes are not stored in a waste bin for collection by the waste contractor, then we are rest assured that it might end up at unauthorized places, hence the urgent need to ensure that households have waste bins and sanitation regulations are enforced to change attitudes for effective waste management.”

He stated that Zoomlion’s intervention by desilting the Odaw drains has averted a possible recurrence of the flood disaster which claimed several lives three years ago.

“Despite not being paid for our desilting works on the Odaw drain, Zoomlion is still committed to desilting the Odaw drain to save lives and properties which has been a phenomenon anytime we experience a heavy downpour of rains,” he added.

Dr. Agyepong noted the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant, waste transfer stations, plastics recycling, medical waste treatment and solving Ghana’s 100-year problem of discharging waste into the sea by providing a faecal treatment plant, as some innovations introduced by Zoomlion to solve Ghana’s waste management challenges.

He added that many provisions in Ghana’s sanitation policy in terms of physical infrastructure have been constructed by Zoomlion, emphasizing that the private sector has the capacity and that there is no need to re-invent gains made to this effect.

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda, in his presentation, hinted of plans to deploy sanitation brigades to enforce sanitation laws and help shape attitudes towards good sanitation.

He eluded to the fact that, Environmental service providers have the capacity and there is the need for government to help them consolidate their efforts to effectively manage waste.

He commended Zoomlion for its introduction of waste trucks which has helped in managing waste and urged the company, despite debts owed it, to continually provide effective service to help solve Ghana’s waste challenge.

The Mayor of Accra, Mr. Mohammed Adjei Sowah, who also spoke as a panelist, revealed that the polluter payment system should allow those who create the waste to pay appropriate fees to enable effective collection.

Other stakeholders at the forum agreed that waste bin distribution, waste transfer stations, composting and recycling, landfill managemet and enforcing the sanitation laws and regulations is the way to go if Ghana wants to lift itself from the waste menace.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghan

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This is the belief of the owner of the biggest sanitation company in Ghana, Zoomlion Company Limited.

In his words, “When you look on the streets now, everywhere is clean, everywhere is neat. I said neat because you have not moved to other African countries. When you move to Gambia and other places and you come back to Accra, you think that Accra is the new London.”

Meanwhile, Sanitation Minister Kofi Adda, the man tasked with the enormous job of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa has decided to engage in a blame game for the filthy stinky Accra we call Ghana’s capital. At one of the numerous forums organized on addressing sanitation issues in the country, he blamed Zoomlion for reneging on their responsibility to sweep the streets and collect the refuse every day.

He lamented further about his disappointment that everywhere was engulfed in filth.

Ah! As if what we needed from a Sanitation Minister was an expression of disappointment about our dirty streets, a problem he has been tasked to deal with.

This government led by Nana Akufo Addo has demonstrated its abhorrence for the filth around us and its commitment to clean Ghana with the setting up of a Ministry of Sanitation (the first in the history of Ghana). But largely, all that has been done to a clean Ghana so far has been talk, talk and some more talk.

Almost every week, forums are held by various bodies, and sanitation policies and strategies are repeated again and again. Indeed, if talks were what we needed to rid Accra of filth, Ghana would have accomplished this a long time ago and our streets would be spotless.

Sadly, that isn’t the case. It’s clear we don’t need any more talk, but action. At one of the several forums, it was revealed that this country has over 100 policies on sanitation. So really, what do we hope to achieve with these relatively needless talks?

On paper, the over 200 Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies have by-laws that should ensure the various MMDAs are clean; it should not have to take the President to declare an agenda to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

For example, the third Saturday of every month is supposed to be observed as the “Health Day” under the AMA by-laws. But until the then Local Government Minister declared the first Saturday of every month a Sanitation Day, the Health Day remained only in theory for a better part of the years.

The by-laws have other fantastic regulations to help keep the city clean. Unfortunately, that is how far we have gone in keeping Ghana clean; we only enact the laws, take no action or pretend to take a little action.

The President went ahead to launch his government’s sanitation campaign. At the launch, he announced that all government departments and agencies will designate two officers each as sanitation marshals who will oversee compliance with sanitation laws in their various offices. The President didn’t only make the announcement; he gave timelines too. The heads of the various departments had one week, from the day of the launch, to identify and assign these officers who were to receive training from the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate.

President Akufo-Addo also served notice that Ministers and other directors of government agencies will be held accountable for any lapses in compliance with these directives.

It’s been four months and counting…

In the meantime, all of the country’s public places continue to be inundated with filth. Market women sell fresh fruits, fish and vegetables, among other things, close to heaps of refuse. A significant number of the gutters in the capital are choked. For many Ghanaians, the lack of landfill sites means their refuse is dumped directly into open drains and open spaces.

The lack of landfill sites is probably the government’s biggest challenge in tackling this sanitation menace, but this also presents the perfect opportunity to device other innovative means to turn our waste problem around. This is a government that has promised to build factories in all 216 districts across the country. A few private individuals are basically squeezing water out of stones to run recycling factories – Safisana and Fibrewealth easily come to mind. These two recycling companies and a few more can create millions of cedis each day from recycling alone with the right amount of support.

A UNICEF report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ranks Ghana the seventh worst country in the world with regards to access to basic sanitation. The bigger problem here is that about 7,332 basic schools in the country do not have toilet facilities. This means the thousands of school pupils in basic schools are accustomed to defecating in the open. This is the root of our problem. Children grow up with the mindset of finding their own means when nature calls.

I have seen and heard more than enough stories that show our sanitation problem is intrinsic. If not, how does the EL Wak Stadium in Accra suddenly turn into a mini landfill site when thousands of job seekers throng there? These are people, who have had, at the very least, some basic education. And you know how huge the problem is when you spot a university student carelessly dropping a can into a dustbin clearly marked “plastic” on a university campus. These are not just fabrications. These have really happened and continue to happen every day. Once I walked up to police officers at the Adentan Police station and asked to use the washroom. A policewoman sharply retorted, “just go down there and sort yourself out.” Interestingly, there was no washroom “down there”.

What can be done?

It was refreshing to hear the president announce that “every day is sanitation day”. And indeed, every day is actually “sanitation day” since Accra alone generates about 2,800 tonnes of waste daily.

But introducing new sanitation policies every new day isn’t the magic potion to our problem. A chunk of the solution can be found in these words of the former President, Jerry John Rawlings who has been appointed a sanitation ambassador by the AMA, “You are lucky the position given to me is just a ceremonial one. If I was acting in the actual capacity, I would jail about three to five people a week till Accra becomes clean again”. Yes, the law enforcers should punish people who freely break the sanitation laws. Let sanitation offenders be handed non-custodial sentences. Let the public see offenders sweeping the markets, or desilting the gutters etc. This will come at very little cost to us as a people but will go a long way to help solve Ghana’s sanitation problem; much of which is attitudinal.

At a recent program, the president said our biggest challenge as a people, was poverty. But Mr President, I beg to differ. Our biggest challenge as a people is sanitation.

A clean city is a clean and healthy people. A clean and healthy people is a wealthy city. Enough of the talking. Let’s act.
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By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Eugenia writes: Talking our way to a cleaner Accra appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Ghana is impacted by various risks and uncertainties, including increased storm surges, extreme rainfall, sea-level rise, flooding and increased frequency, and severity of droughts.

More worrying is the effect of climate change on community livelihoods, infrastructure stability, rain-fed agriculture, food security, spatial planning, and energy security among others.

At a two-day awareness workshop for planning officers in the Western Region around effectively integrating extreme weather and climate change risks into district-level energy frameworks and planning in Takoradi, Mr. Chikkatur spoke of the need for Ghana to pay particular attention to climate change due to its present and future threat it poses.

He explained to Citi News that “there is what we call non-climate stressors. We already have building codes in Ghana. We have environmental impact assessments that one should do. if you do not do those environmental impact assessments correctly, if you do not follow these existing building codes correctly, then whatever happens with climate will just make it worst.

“We have drains in Takoradi, we have drains in Accra. Many of these drains as we know them are clogged. You get to the Kaneshie Market during rain storms and the drains all get covered. If we do not clean the drains, it is going to make things more difficult. Does that has to do with climate change? No, it has to do with us following the building codes, we need to follow procedures, it has to do with us not throwing garbage on the streets, we make sure if they are there already, they are getting collected among others.”

Mr. Chikkatur then admonished that “if the things that we are supposed to do are not done, and on top of that we have the effect of Climate Change, its going to make things even worse. It’s not just about climate change, but following the codes for sanitation, building and other codes”.

Speaking of how Climate Change is becoming a threat to Ghana, Mr. Chikkatur mentioned of the report they have produced on Climate Change and its effect on Ghana, when he said that “in the next 20 to 30 years, there will be increased high temperatures in Ghana. It could be anywhere in Ghana and will range anywhere between 1.2 and 1.6 centigrade in the future. It means that the weather will be hotter and the rainfall pattern is anticipated to change. We anticipate that there will be more rains from the months of August to December and less rain from March to June. This will be a slight change”.

He continued that “as the temperature gets warmer, there will be more evaporation and so there will be more clouds. This presents a possibility that there will be more rains but these rainfalls could be more extreme as we have been seeing in Accra. Accra has had rainfalls at unexpected times and downpours. These patterns could be more extreme. We need to plan with these changes in patterns in mind”.

It is on the back of putting integrated climate change information into planning at the district assembly level that the IRRP is sensitizing planning officers in the Western Region to aid them factor in climate change information in their planning processes.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Poor sanitation to worsen effects of climate change – USAID appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The event was also to launch an Environmental Health Prosecution manual which was first published in 2002 and revised in 2017.

The deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Patrick Yaw Boamah told Citi News that the revised Environmental Health Prosecutions manual will help reduce the time and costs usually expended on prosecuting sanitation offenders.

“The revised Environmental health prosecutions manual will eventually lead to a reduction in time and cost of prosecuting sanitation offenders in this country. It has become necessary to intensify our education efforts on sanitation and thereby get everyone’s support in ensuring that our cities are clean and safe for us. Sanitation is a shared responsibility and we expect that everyone plays his or her role.”

He, however, bemoaned the poor attitudes of the public towards sanitation describing it as the biggest challenge facing the country in its quest for proper sanitation.

“The poor state of sanitation in the country poses a challenge in achieving the National Health Insurance Scheme and the Sustainable Development Goals.   The poor attitudes of people are responsible for the top ten Out Patients Department cases in the hospitals leading to the country spending so much money on diseases that could be prevented. We, therefore, need innovative strategies that would culminate in reversing the citizenry’s poor attitude towards sanitation.”

It was revealed that only 15% of Ghanaians have access to toilet facilities, which is the lowest in the world and also that about 60% of Ghanaians still share toilets.

The deputy minister announced that his outfit is rolling out a Sanitation Brigade in all the MMDAs which will support Environmental Health Officers and Assistance to sensitize the public and also ensure enforcement of existing regulations on sanitation.

This workshop in Tamale is the last of similar programs organised in Accra and Kumasi for the southern sector.

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By: Mohammed Aminu Alabira/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sanitation Ministry trains health prosecutors; launches revised manual appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Adda has been criticized for doing little with some calling for his head especially at a time when the President has pledged to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his first term in office.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Dcp5nmWnymohlr9ySFn2PHTiQoLgLVCA”]But speaking to Citi News, the Sanitation Minister said he has enough logistics to improve the sanitation situation, and remains committed to making a difference.

“I am committed to it as charged by the President, and I am also committing to it because of the plans and resources being pledged to get the work done, and I am sure we will turn the country into a different place by June,” he said.

He also noted that the orientation, community sensitization together with support from Ghanaians, would go a look way to help achieve this by the end of June.

I have only eight staff  – Kofi Adda

Despite the enormous task of fulfilling a pledge by President Akufo-Addo to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, which is responsible for making this happen has only eight employees.

This, according to the sector Minister, Kofi Adda, is a big challenge because the issue of inadequate staff is not “good enough” for the huge task on them.

“I started the ministry with just about four officers… Now we are up to about eight. That is certainly not enough,” Kofi Adda said.

Social and political non-partisan pressure group, OccupyGhana, has asked the government to pay serious attention to the overwhelming filth in the country.

According to them, the rate at which waste is engulfing the country is alarming, and something must be done immediately to prevent potentially disastrous health and security problem to the country.

“OccupyGhana has noted with concern the huge swathes of plastic and other solid and human waste engulfing our country, especially our capital. It is rapidly reaching an alarming state.We have also been monitoring how the matter of sanitation is being addressed by Government and we are concerned about Government’s commitment to resolving it.”

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sanitary conditions to improve by June this year – Kofi Adda appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 2-hour policy roundtable event, which had in attendance various policymakers and stakeholders was on the theme: Environmental Discipline- Dealing with filth in Accra.

The event was also aimed at putting pressure on the relevant authorities to tackle the unsanitary conditions in the country, as well changing negative attitudes of people towards sanitation.

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda, and Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah discussed various themes of the campaign at the event.

At the end of deliberations, participants came up with the following recommendations which have been captured in the communique below:

One Ghana Movement communique

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana Action Series participants’ tips on tackling filth [Full Text] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to them, the rate at which waste is engulfing the country is alarming and something must be done immediately to prevent potentially disastrous health and security problem to the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UOhmhnkLYQKtw40OX4zWBgZOSEquJvDp”]“OccupyGhana has noted with concern the huge swathes of plastic and other solid and human waste engulfing our country, especially our capital. It is rapidly reaching an alarming state.We have also been monitoring how the matter of sanitation is being addressed by Government and we are concerned about Government’s commitment to resolving it.”

They said there has been little effort by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to address the issue.

“The reality is that by the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) and its predecessor statute, issues of sanitation are to be handled by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Authorities (MMDAs). There are also the provisions of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency Act, 1998 (Act 564), and the functions assigned to that Agency. This legislative dilemma is compounded by the Environmental Sanitation provisions under Part Five of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851), falling within the remit of the Ministry of Health. We, therefore, have doubts as to what the Ministry will do and achieve when it technically has no legislative mandate to handle sanitation anywhere in the country unless its role is to coordinate the activities of all the legislatively-mandated bodies on issues of sanitation.”

They mentioned that the ‘National Sanitation Campaign’ launched by the President has done nothing about the poor sanitation since it was launched in November 2017, and has no clear-cut time on when and how the program would be role out.

“The campaign promised the introduction of automated street sweepers, the formation of a National Sanitation Brigade and appointment of Sanitation Marshalls and Deputies in Municipal and District Assemblies; these appointments were to have been made within one week of the announcement by the President.”

OccupyGhana has also called upon MMDAs and the Ghana Police to rigidly enforce laws regarding littering the environment, refuse disposal and open defecation, and charge and prosecute offenders.

They have also urged Ghanaians to desist from littering the environment, refrain from disposing of refuse improperly and stop the practice of open defecation.

According to them, in order for Ghana to attain a desirable level of cleanliness, the bodies tasked with sanitation responsibilities by law, must strictly apply sanitation laws, carry out intensive and sustained public education and build a new positive attitude in citizens towards caring for and protecting the environment.

OccupyGhana urged Ghanaians to strive as a people to live up to a dying national maxim: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post OccupyGhana calls on gov’t to address sanitation issues appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

To successfully achieve this goal, the President revealed that government will spend an amount of 200 million cedis.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dRNkexfdfmhJWF5sb9CrAUAtBGD72cxB”]He made this known when he delivered his second State of the Nation Address in Parliament today [Thursday].

“Government is working with various private sector authorities to tackle this major challenge with strategies that are intended to effect a change in our attitudes towards waste and filth as well as improve dramatically our methods of waste management. This will be complemented by the strict enforcement of sanitation rules and regulations.”

“Urgent attention will be given to clearing of rubbish all around the country. Apart from the systematic efforts being made to resolve the legacy of inherited debts in the sector, government will spend an amount of 200 million cedis to address the issue of sanitation.”

The President also expressed concerns about the poor sanitary conditions in the country, describing it as “unacceptable.”

“Our cities have been engulfed by filth and there is the urgent need for public authorities to finance and make our cities clean and in the case of Accra, fulfilling my pledge, one of the most ambitious of my presidency, to make it the cleanest city of Accra by the end of my term”.

Ghanaians have however cast doubts about the promise, considering the insanitary conditions in Accra and other parts of the country.

Just recently, the Australia’s Ambassador to Ghana, Andrew Barnes, took to Twitter to express his frustration over the poor sanitary conditions close to the Embassy in Cantonments.

Despite these challenges, the Minster of Sanitation, Kofi Adda, has however indicated that government has not abandoned strategic plans aimed at making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

In 2017, government launched an elaborate national sanitation campaign, although not much has happened yet.

Gov’t secures $3m for national sanitation master-plan

Government has also launched what it calls the Integrated Urban Environmental Sanitation Master Plan (IUESMP), to complement all existing strategies in the sanitation, drainage and water management sub-sectors to holistically deal with sanitation and waste.

The initiative is worth $3 million, and is funded by the World Bank. The memorandum of understanding was signed between the government and the World Bank in October 2017.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GHc200m to be spent on sanitation – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ministry on Wednesday held a forum for stakeholders within the sector where it was announced that a new master plan known as the Integrated Urban Environmental Sanitation Master Plan (IUESMP), is being put up to manage sanitation issues in the country.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WdccKtkJOeUa5gpQ6jwO9Bt14Sj7vlkF”]The $3-million initiative is being funded by the World Bank as part of a Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) project.

The memorandum of understanding for the project was signed between the government and World Bank in October 2017, with the project expected to be completed in 18 months.

Some Ghanaians have raised concerns over the new plans requesting to know the rationale behind it when many of such plans already abound in the sector.

But responding to the issue on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, Raymond Ayilu, the Personal Assistant to the Sanitation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, said the new master plan will realign all other strategies.

“We have not stopped the implementation of what we already have, that is what is currently guiding us in our activities. It is not like we have put on hold all previous plans and then we are waiting to do something new to be able to leverage on that and move ahead…we are working with the existing plans that we have.”

“But like I said, these were different documents handled or done by different institutions. But now we have a ministry that wants to coordinate and realign all these things into one master plan or document that can guide all the various stakeholders and focus on the different facets of waste management being solid waste, liquid waste, industrial waste, chemical waste – so you have to bring all these things under one document that can easily at a click tell us where we are going as a country, and this is what we are doing now,” he added.

He further clarified that, some of the existing documents need to be reviewed and updated because there are new challenges.

Mr. Ayilu added that, the master plan will seek to rectify all such issues.

“We are implementing what we have already,  but all the previous plans need regular updates… You cannot just do a plan and that is it. We are having to face new challenges so periodically you need to review and update your plans,” he added.

The new sanitation master plan comes at a time the country is battling with filth and insanitary conditions in the country.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has promised to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the year 2020.

But some Ghanaians seem not to believe the promise due to the amount of filth on streets and vantage points in the capital city, Accra.

Click below for the full interview on the Citi Breakfast Show: 

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post We’ve not abandoned existing plans on sanitation – Sanitation Ministry appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Due to its importance, it features as goal six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which states: “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”

In spite of its importance, sanitation in Bugubelle, a community in the Sissala East of the Upper West Region leaves much to be desired.

One of the aspects of the poor sanitation situation in Bugubelle is open defaecation.

Sadly, the indigenes don’t have an idea how dangerous this act is to their health.

According to the Assemblyman, out of the more than five hundred households in the community only a handful of these households have a pit latrine.

He narrated that, latrines that Plan Ghana, a non-governmental organisation supported to be built were in households of opinion leaders of the community. These latrines have deteriorated and most of the indigenes practice open defaecation.

In addition to this effort, there’re only two public toilets in the community: for the basic school and another built close to the market; unfortunately, due to poor maintenance culture, the facility close to the market is nothing to write home about – the facility has human excreta littered in front of it, the slabs that covered the holes are broken and refuse dumped around the whole place.

According to a native, there was initially a committee that was set up to see to the maintenance of the facility but unfortunately the committee has been dissolved for reasons unknown.

The Assemblyman revealed that a couple of months ago, the District Assembly requested that the community provide one person to be trained in building household latrines in the community.

The Assemblyman stated that, the trainee has reported to him that the indigenes have started showing interest in owning household latrines after an initial lack of interest in the idea.

Although such interest has been shown in owning household latrines, there’s the need for consistent and persuasive sanitation education in the community.

Taking the indigenes of Bugubelle through the importance, health and social benefits of owning household latrines will ensure that the act of open defaecation will be a thing of the past.

Also, it will make the indigenes to take the initiative of constructing their own household latrines without waiting for the District Assembly or a non-governmental organisation to solve their challenges for them. That is development.

It will give the indigenes the understanding of taking charge of issues on sanitation management in the community since they are already aware of selecting group of persons who will see to the management of various aspects of their lives. Sanitation education for the indigenes of Bugubelle will bring an end to open defaecation in the community, and the community loses only the indignity and the diseases that accompany poor sanitation in our communities. Sanitation education is important to all.

It borders on health, and health is wealth.

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By: Alex Blege

The writer is a freelance journalist.

Writer’s email: [email protected]/[email protected]

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