ESPA to collaborate to deal with sanitation problems - Dr Agyepong

Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, President of the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) said the Association would welcome suggestions, strategies and long-term plans from its stakeholders and all Ghanaians, to ensure the promotion of proper sanitation management in the country.

He also called on the Media to help in the fight against the indiscriminate dumping of refuse through education and advocacy programmes on their platforms, adding, “without the Media, the efforts of ESPA and the Government would not be recognized".

Dr Agyepong was speaking at a stakeholders consultative meeting organized by ESPA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MoLG&RD) in Accra on Sunday under the theme: The Aftermath of the June 3 Devastating Floods: The Way Forward to Combat the Cholera Outbreak."

He said inadequate funding and poor revenue collection remained major problems for members of ESPA, and said it would not ensure the proper monitoring for service providers.

Dr Agyepong who is also tne Executive Chairman of the Juspong Group of Companies, said it was the duty and responsibility of every Ghanaian to keep our environments clean to ensure good sanitation, and prevent the outbreak of diseases to promote public and environmental health.

He, however, stressed the need for Government and the Media, as well as stakeholders, to make the issue of sanitation a priority in their day-to-day activities, especially education and advocacy.

Mr Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said there was the need to intensify education and the campaign on the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise, which had been a very big success.

He said the MoLG&RD had engaged ESPA and NAWABIN to distribute about one million dust bins to households and Asemblies to make it mandatory for shops and stores in our markets to have at least one bin in front of their stores.

"The dust bins will also be positioned and planted at various vantage areas in all cities to control littering and the indiscriminate disposal of waste."

Mr Vanderpuye who is also the Member of Parliament for Odododiodio, said the campaign of the NSD had been extended to market places., lorry stations and various schools, adding that to take the campaign to a higher level, the ministry was engaging the backlog of environmental health schools graduates to be posted to all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies as environmental officers.

He said the ministry had taken delivery of taps from the United States Agency for International Development to be distributed among schools to encourage pupils to wash their hands with soap.

Mr Vandapuye also called on the media to use their platforms to educate the citizenry on effects and dangers of bad sanitation practices, adding, "We cannot achieve our goals without the involvement and support of the media."

Madam Ama Antwi, Executive Director of ESPA disclosed that Government spent 0.5 per cent of its budget on the sanitation and water sectors, and that this must be increased to ensure that much attention was given to the sector.