Play your respective roles in the fight against unhealthy practices – President

General News of Thursday, July 25, 2019

Source: GNA

2019-07-25

President Nana Addo, Danquah Akufo-Addo, urged Ghanaians to play their respective roles in combating unhealthy practices, particularly liquid waste management.

In a speech made on his behalf by Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Minister of Planning for the "Sanitation Awards for Ghana", the President urged the public to refrain from indiscriminate waste disposal and defecation in the open air.

The Challenge is a UKAID-funded project implemented by IMC worldwide, IRC Ghana and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to create competition between all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and private partners to design and implement innovative strategies to address liquidity issues. waste problems in the country.

He said the government was determined to prioritize and improve the provision of liquid waste management services, as evidenced by the creation of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.

For the first time in the history of Ghana, he said, the Ministry of Finance, through the Physical Decentralization Unit, had created guidelines and a budget line for management. liquid waste within municipalities, adding that the guidelines and the budget line were previously focused only on: solid waste management.

The President said that he had been reliably informed that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources had successfully deployed the Gama water and sanitation project. , which had provided an improved sanitation system to 250,000 households, provided drinking water to 64,000 people in low-income urban areas, and built 406 health blocks at the school serving 163 students. .

He added that another achievement in sanitation had been the construction of Box covers along the Kaneshie section at Mallam Junction, which had reduced the perpetual flood since the date of remembrance.

He noted that the ministry had developed an integrated sanitation plan plan for Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, which would serve as a model to guide the development of environmental sanitation in the country.

He added that complete digital surveillance platforms had also been created as a database to capture and monitor the improvement of sanitation in all bademblies.

"There is also the Greater Accra Sustainable Sanitation and Livelihoods Improvement Project, underway in the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, which focuses solely on liquid waste management; build and connect 500 homes to the existing sewer system and build 7,000 household toilet systems in low-income urban communities. "

He added that he was also going to train 1,000 artisans and contractors in the washing sector to better provide sanitation services, which would create jobs. He urged all MMDAs, as well as their private partners, to use their advocacy platforms to advance the program.