Upper Manya MP calls for national effort to tackle Ghana’s sanitation crisis

The Member of Parliament for Upper Manya Krobo and a Member of Parliament’s Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, Hon. Bismark Tetteh Nyarko, has called for a collective national effort to address the worsening sanitation situation across Ghana.

Speaking on the Channel One Newsroom on Sunday May 25, Hon. Bismark Tetteh Nyarko expressed deep concern over the poor state of cleanliness in various districts. According to him, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources has visited over ten district assemblies during the current parliamentary recess, including locations in Kumasi, Ejisu, Kole Klottey in Accra, and other municipalities, and the situation remains dire.

“The sanitation committee  is so worried about the sanitation situation across the country. We have visited about 10 district assemblies during this recess, we’ve been to Kumasi, we’ve been to Ejisu, in Accra we’ve been to Kole Klotte , we’ve been to so many other district assemblies and the worry of seeing rubbish littering the streets of our communities is so bad.

“I thought de-congesting the streets of these major cities will enable this littering reduce but unfortunately, that is not what you are seeing, the traders are back on the streets of Accra,  we have to get a change of mind, we have to reset our minds that certain things we cannot continue doing them like the way we used to do.” He said.

He further revealed that while traders benefit from using public spaces, they often do not contribute adequately to sanitation levies or maintenance efforts.

He disclosed that the issue is not limited to Accra or Upper Manya Krobo but is a nationwide crisis requiring urgent attention and behavioral change.

“If we are on the street later in the street, we don’t sweep the streets, we don’t pay levies that are commensurate to your activities. Obviously, this is very bad. If you go to my constituency as well, the same thing is happening there. We have the Asesewa market, traders coming there to trade, they litter the ground, they litter the streets of Asesewa and ZoomLion that we all know that is supposed to be sweeping the streets are also no more sweeping because of the obvious reasons.” He said.

He continued “I believe that we, as a sanitation committee, we are doing our best to get government to pay more attention to the sanitation situations in Ghana. In fact, it is not only Accra or the constituency I come from that I mentioned but it’s the whole country, if you travel across the length and breadth of Ghana, the sanitation situation is so bad, and so we must come together as Ghanaians and think about the best way of attending to these sanitation issues in our country.

Source: Elvisanokyenews.net