Govt taking good steps to make city clean but 85% doubtful - CONIWAS

Executive Secretary of the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) Patrick Apoya has said he cannot be sure if the government is 85 per cent through with its plans to make the capital city the cleanest in Africa as the Minister of Sanitation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, is claiming.

He, however, said on the Community Connect programme on 3FM Friday, August 14, that the government has taken prudent steps to achieve the target of the president to make the city the cleanest in Africa.

He explained that one of the measures being implemented aggressively is the recycling of wastes instead of dumping.

This he said is an important thing to do if any country wants to makes its surroundings clean.

In 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo declared his government’s intention to make Ghana’s capital city, Accra, the cleanest on the continent by the end of his first term in office.

Speaking to the media as part of a sanitation tour and clean-up exercise in parts of Maamobi in Accra, on Tuesday August 11, the Sanitation Minister revealed that 100 per cent cleaner city was achieved during the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

But she said after the restrictions were lifted, the dirt started emerging.

Regarding the grading efforts to make Accra the cleanest city, she said, “I will give it 85 per cent because at the end of the day you saw the 100 per cent we did during the lockdown.”

But her comments has attracted criticism from a section of Ghanaians including the Member of Parliament for Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, who said on TV3’s New Day Thursday, August 13, that the minister was dishonest in the comments.

Alhaji Suhuyini said: “This is dishonesty because you move around and bins are not even everywhere,” adding that the president should be blamed for this development.

Sharing his perspectives on this matter, the CONIWAS boss, Mr Apoya, said the 100 per cent target “is achievable. The measures that have been put in place to achieve the target is good at it. The institutional reforms, the shift towards recycling instead of dumping are the right things to be done

“Unfortunately, these have not been backed by the level of resources we require to drive such an initiative. You only saw it during the Covid-19 as the minister said.”

He added: “Moving towards the achievement of the president’s promise, we are not in position to establish how the 85 per cent was arrived at.

“We want to see the indicators which were used and what was used in computing it. If it is just for one week or two months cleaning to achieve cleanest status then I am sure several African countries would have already achieved it before us.

“But all the same, the things that the ministry is putting in place are the right things to achieve the president’s agenda.”