Government intends to construct toilet facilities in various homes across the country as an effective measure of addressing open defecation, the Minister of Sanitation, Kofi Adda, has revealed.
The Minister’s promise follows threats by the World Bank to withdraw support to Ghana if measures are not taken to address Ghana’s sanitation challenges.
The World Bank is reportedly unhappy that many Ghanaians still do not have access to basic sanitary facilities, particularly household toilets.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Minister indicated that, government will undertake what he calls a comprehensive programme to deal with these challenges.
“We are putting together a comprehensive programme to address this factor. We are trying to get a toilet in every house. If you have a toilet in every house, along the beach areas, open defecation in all the beaches will not be needed anymore. On the national scale, we are targeting 1 million toilet facilities.”
He admitted that, the problem is rife in Ghana because of the non-enforcement of bye laws, saying “It is true that the laws of the country have not been adhered to. Bye-laws from the Assembly should have been enforced to ensure that all the houses that are being constructed have got toilets in them. These are challenges that we are going through and we are going to ensure that we roll this out in a very serious and effective manner.”
The Minister said government will also engage various stakeholders including “young men and women” to ensure that this project is successfully executed.
On the issue of filth and sanitation, he said his outfit is considering restructuring the operations of environmental service providers to address challenges associated with sanitation.
“The structures that exists with some of the environmental service providers, we need to look at that and restructure that so that we can zone in to all the respective corners of Accra and the hinterlands…We will need to also ensure the timely release of funds to facilitate their operations.”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
