President John Dramani Mahama has re-launched the National Sanitation Day to be observed by all the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on the first Saturday of every month, starting from October.
The Day was first launched by President Mahama during the first administration in 2014.
It is as part of efforts by the Government to keep the nation clean.
The re-launch is to empower local government structures by making sanitation a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), and fostering citizens’ participation and accountability in keeping the environment clean.
President Mahama in his remarks at the re-launch of the National Sanitation Day in Madina near Accra, said aside from organizing National Sanitation Days, Ghanaians must inculcate in their children the spirit and awareness of cleanliness.
He said they were in discussion with the Ministry of Education to see how they could create as part of the curriculum, a separate curriculum on courtesy and responsible citizenship.
“So that we can train our children from basic school through secondary school. And I believe that if we train them properly when they grow, they will not depart from it,” he said.
President Mahama said Chapter 22 of the 1992 Constitution could be amended by the Constitutional Review Committee to empower chiefs to set up Sanitation Courts to deal with offenders, as part of measure to help curb environmental pollution.
“Our chiefs were the leaders when it comes to voluntarism and communal labour and cleanliness. Unfortunately, with independence, new constitutions and all that, the authority of the chiefs has been eroded in terms of the power that they can exercise within their traditional areas,” he said.
The President said, he was in favour of restoring some of the authority back to chiefs, especially in respect of environment and sanitation.
He said the National House of Chiefs and all the Regional Houses of Chiefs must look at that Chapter 22 of the 1992 Constitution properly.
He noted that they could bring amendments that would reinstate some of the powers of the chiefs.
“I believe that in every community there is a chief. And so if in every community there is a chief, we can put a sanitation court in the palace of the chief,” he said.
“So that working together with the district assembly, people who are persistent polluters will be brought to those sanitation courts and they’ll be given the sanctions that they deserve so that we can have cleaner communities, cleaner cities, and cleaner towns.”
This, the President said would not abdicate the responsibility of the district administrations in terms of sanitation.
The President said when his administration came to office, they had a situation where more than 50 per cent of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund was being spent in Accra at the District Assemblies’ Common Fund Administrator’s Office; adding that sufficient money was not going to the districts to be able to carry out their obligations.
President Mahama said currently the MMDCEs, had no excuse; adding that he directed that 80 per cent of money due to the District Assemblies’ Common Fund must go directly to the MMDAs.
“And so you can’t tell me you have an excuse of lack of resources. You have the resources,” the President said.
He informed the MMDCEs that sanitation was one of the key KPIs that would be used to measure their performance in office; adding that the best performing District, as well as traditional area would be rewarded.
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, said the re-launch of the National Sanitation Day was to rekindle a national movement with a collective aim to restore cleanliness, discipline, and dignity to their communities, cities, and towns.
“It is a bold declaration. We as a nation will not tolerate the menace of fault, environmental pollution, and disease. Environmental sanitation has long posed a formidable challenge in Ghana,” he said.
“Improper waste disposal, poor drainage management, indiscriminate littering, and weak enforcement of sanitation bylaws have led to grave consequences, including outbreak of cholera, malaria, typhoid, and other sanitation related diseases, and even led to unfortunate tragic loss of lives.”
He said beyond the health hazard, flooding, destruction of infrastructure, the decline in tourism, damage to the nation’s natural resources, and economic setbacks could not be overstated.
Ogyeahohuo Yaw Gyebi II, the President of the National House of Chiefs, who chaired the function, declared the full support of the House for the National Sanitation Day re-launch as part efforts by the Government to keep the nation clean.
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