Western Regional Minister charges assemblies to tackle sanitation challenges amidst cholera outbreak

The Western Regional Minister, Hon. Joseph Nelson, has declared war against unsanitary conditions in the region.

He said the declaration follows a recent outbreak of cholera in parts of the region and the health threats being posed by the unsanitary conditions in the region.

Addressing the Coordinating Directors of the various assemblies making up the region on Monday, 17th February 2025, during his maiden meeting with them, he openly challenged the coordinating directors to redeem the image of the Western Region by making it clean.

Consequently, he appealed to the coordinating directors working in the region to make the fight against unsanitary conditions a priority.

He said the recent outbreak of cholera in some parts of the region must have sent a strong signal to everyone that the fight against unsanitary conditions was crucial and remains a collective responsibility.

He said the outbreak of the cholera could not have been attributed to anything other than the poor management of waste, sanitation and hygiene in the region.

To this end, he charged all coordinating directors across the region to deal decisively with the institutions and companies engaged by the government for the management of waste in their respective areas.

“The institutions at the heart of managing waste must be cautioned,” he remarked.

Hon. Joseph Nelson said all the assemblies must have adequate plans for sanitation management and work with these plans so that the gap created will be avoided. “You must have plans for sanitation”, he emphasised.

He said under his administration as the Regional Minister; he would leave no stone unturned in dealing decisively with perpetrators of poor waste management in their respective areas.
“There will be little room for excesses in managing waste in the region”. It is obviously not going to be business as usual,” he noted.

He said anything done outside the instructions offered would certainly not be tolerated.

On the cholera outbreak, he said it was regrettable that the region suffered casualties unjustifiably as a result of the situation.

“You cannot disconnect how effectively you manage these issues and occurrences of this nature. Some lives have been lost”.

He announced plans to introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aside from the national ones to monitor and gauge the performance of all coordinating directors in their respective areas.
“It will relate to issues that confront the assemblies,” the Minister said.

He said services being offered by the directors must be commensurate with expected standards. “Let’s keep our eyes on the ball. Your services must enrich the lives of the people”.

He called on the assemblies, currently led by the coordinating directors, to make judicious use of the resources available and police all the institutions under them effectively.

Innocent Haligah, Coordinating Director of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), who spoke on behalf of the coordinating directors, acknowledged the responsibility placed on their shoulders by the Minister.

He told the Minister that the major challenge confronting the assemblies in the fight against sanitation was the lack of equipment.

He said virtually all the assemblies in the region were facing sanitation challenges due to the aforementioned. “The bottom line has to do with sanitation equipment”.

He lauded the Minister for stepping up to the plate upon assumption of office and pledged the cooperation of all coordinating directors to help his administration perform to the satisfaction of everyone and, ultimately, the government.

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