WAPS courts Bagbin’s support on campaign against poor sanitation

War Against Poor Sanitation (WAPS) Ghana, an advocacy group, has paid a courtesy call on the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Honourable Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, in his office at Parliament.

According to the Executive Director of WAPS, Selasie W. Addae, the visit was to inform the second deputy speaker of their war campaign against poor sanitation in the country.

The visit came off on Friday, February 9, 2018,

He explained that this campaign, which had already taken off in the national capital, Accra, is aimed at ridding ‘our cities, towns, communities and immediate environs of filth.

Mr Addae lamented over what he described as “our negative and poor attitudes” towards the environment.

Some of these attitudes, he said, include indiscriminate littering, dumping of solid waste into gutters and drains, and open defecation into gutters

According to him, the above are contributing factors to the outbreak of cholera and other communicable diseases, especially in the cities.

To this end, the group urged Hon Bagbin to use his good office to impress upon Parliament to support them achieve their target.

Mr Addae, who doubles as the Executive Director of Global Institute for Leadership and Capacity Building, disclosed that so far his outfit has had some fruitful engagements with stakeholders in the sanitation sector.

These, he mentioned, included the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), waste management companies like Zoomlion, and many others.

And as part of their strategy, which includes advocacy and education on the need to keep the country clean, he went further to mention that his group has also identified some sanitation flashpoints in Accra.

“And for these sanitation flashpoints we are seriously working with churches, the assemblies and opinion leaders to ensure that they are clean,” Mr Addae indicated.

The group lauded the 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament for his long-service in Parliament and his contributions towards the country’s democracy.

Receiving members of WAPS, Hon Bagbin expressed his readiness to work with the group in realising their commitment to ensure that Ghana is clean. He also commended them for their campaign against poor sanitation.

In the view of Hon Bagbin, sanitation was a shared responsibility and must, therefore, involve ‘all of us.’

The special aide of the 2ndd Deputy Speaker of Parliament attended the meeting.

The WAPS members who attended the meeting included Associate Director, Jude Maxwell, Research Director, Evans Sakyio, Media Manager Aaron Agyemang Sarpong and National Coordinator, Eric Teiko.

The vision of WAPS is to advocate and educate Ghanaians on the critical need for the country to be clean.