We’ll enforce sanitation laws – Minister

Sanitation laws will be enforced strictly as part of efforts to deal with the filth in the country, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Joseph Kofi Adda, has said.

Public education and awareness creation, he said, will also be carried out alongside the enforcement of the laws.

Mr Adda told Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom show on Accra 100.5FM on Tuesday, 14 November that: “Some know the law but they are refusing to comply with it. You and I know that we are not supposed to defecate openly but we are doing it, so, we don’t need to be educated about that.

“You and I know that we are not supposed to be urinating openly but we are doing it, you and I know that we are not supposed to be disposing our waste and plastics and papers all about but we are doing it, but certainly education and public awareness has to continue.

“It is a continuous process and we will be doing that alongside law enforcement. We will be making arrests and prosecuting offenders.”

The minister’s comments come after the launch of the National Sanitation Campaign by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday, 13 November.

Mr Akufo-Addo said Ghanaians had an obligation to keep the environment clean every day, indicating that the citizenry have to do so daily, and not on a monthly basis.

According to him, “EVERY DAY IS SANITATION DAY”. “I recognize, however, that the government cannot do it alone. This is where I wish to call on all of us, especially our Chiefs and Queen Mothers, religious and opinion leaders, civil society organisations, private sector operators, to rise up to the challenge and help make a difference this time around.”

In leading by example, President Akufo-Addo noted that every government department and agency, including the seat of government, is assigning two officers, to be designated Sanitation Marshal and Deputy Marshal, to oversee compliance of their outfits and their staff to the laid down by-laws with regard to sanitation in their respective offices.

Ministers, Chief Executives and Chief Directors of government departments and agencies will be held accountable for any lapses in the failure to comply with this directive, the President stressed.

He added that “the heads of departments have one week within which to identify and assign these officers. The Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate must take steps to train these appointed officers on their new roles within one month of their appointment.”