Ghana is determined to move sanitation from the periphery to the center of governance and development, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, Deputy Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs Minister, stated on Tuesday.
Sowah said during a day’s executive breakfast conversation organized to discuss the prospects of the sanitation sector, as President John Dramani Mahama has named sanitation as a key performance indicator for Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), that the government seeks to ensure that Ghana’s sanitation performance improves rapidly.
According to the deputy minister, the decision by the government seeks to reverse the trend of open defecation in the country by ensuring that every household has improved and safe toilet facilities, improving sanitation practices, and preventing infectious disease outbreaks linked to poor sanitation practices such as open defecation.
The deputy minister also revealed that the government has ordered that 10 percent of the District Assembly Common Funds (DACF), which is money collected from national taxes to support fair development and local governance in Ghana, be given to each local government assembly to improve sanitation facilities and services.
“When nearly 40 percent of households still lack access to household toilet facilities and significant numbers of citizens continue to practice open defecation, sanitation can no longer be treated as a secondary concern. It must become a leadership priority at the local level,” Sowah highlighted.
The day’s event, themed “Sanitation as a Key Performance Indicator for MMDCEs and the Role of Relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies—Prospects, Opportunities, and Constraints,” was organized by World Vision Ghana, the local chapter of global charity World Vision International.
World Vision Ghana Country Director Tina Mukunda commended Ghana’s bold decision on sanitation so far, with the dedication of 10 percent of DACF to the sector for all 261 local government assemblies. “This decision has the potential to trigger national awareness and reawaken the focus on sanitation development in the country.”
We should be interested in one and only one outcome: greater prioritization and increased investment for improved environmental sanitation,” Mukunda urged.