Local Government Ministry promotes campaign

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) is to partner public and private institutions to increase the public awareness on the National Sanitation Day (NSD) Campaign set for first Saturday of every month.

The partnership is also aimed at promoting collaborative efforts among MLGRD and the private sector to collectively put new innovative ideas together to ensure the success of the Clean Ghana agenda through their services.

Mr Julius Debrah, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development made this known when he paid two separate visits to the Minister of Defence, Dr Benjamin Kunbour and State Insurance Company (SIC) Life Office.

He said the MLGRD has signed an agreement with the leadership of the National Service Scheme to deplore 50,000 service personnel nationwide to help in the cleaning-up exercise on the set days.

Mr Debrah said the campaign is to promote the change of attitudinal of the citizenry in the areas of sanitation, environmental health and the disposal of garbage.

He noted that going by the lessons learnt after the maiden NSD exercise, it was time to get other stakeholders involved in the project for diverse views to be adopted and used in helping to make the initiative a success.

The Minister said Ghana has been ranked among the bottom 10 dirty countries by the United Nations Sanitation Report and that the Ministry is putting in much more efforts to step-up its way of sanitation control. Dr Benjamin Kunbour, Minister for Defence, said the campaign is a laudable idea and that the collaboration with the Military will instilled some discipline in the society.

He noted that the military in its quest to address issues of public interest does not sacrifice quality.

Dr Kunbour said the collaboration will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Clean Ghana initiative set by the Local Government Ministry.

He urged the Minister to meet with the Military High Command for to put in measures and structures that will help achieved the set target by the Ministry.

Mr Ralph Agbeko, SIC Deputy Managing Director, Finance, said the move was in the right direction to fight sanitation and irresponsible disposal of garbage.

He said the management of SIC will meet to take a decision on how to support the campaign and that the company was involve in many Corporate Social Responsibilities which included the Pamela Bridgewater Kayaye resettlement project in Kumasi and Fire Service Life project.

Mr Agbeko thanked the Minister for taking a bold initiative in the fight against the insanitary conditions of the citizenry.