Rising security and sanitation issues threat to national development

The rising insecurity and insanitary conditions in the country has become a major threat to national development.

Mr Douglas Frimpong-Nnuroh, a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for African and International Studies, University of Cape Coast (UCC) has noted.

“It is regrettable that while there are numerous competing national development needs in the country, millions of cedis are rather spent annually in addressing issues of sanitation and security”.

Mr. Frimpong-Nnuroh shared these sentiments at the 110th Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lecture organised by UCC in collaboration with Centre for National Culture in Cape Coast.

It was held on the theme: “Nkrumah Legacy: A Cue in championing Sanitation and Security in Ghana”.

In 2012 for instance, he said the World Bank reported that Ghana spent a total of GH¢420 million, approximately 1.7 percent of GDP in addressing sanitation issues.

Mr. Frimpong-Nnuroh added that the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Interior increased by 44 percent from GH¢1.572 million in 2017 to GH¢2.261 million in 2018 but there has not been significant improvement in security in the country.

Reflecting on the legacies of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Mr. Frimpong-Nnuroh mentioned that Nkrumah’s development plans to a larger extent became a blueprint for succeeding governments but were implemented based on their ideologies.

He said sanitation and security were strong features in Nkrumah’s nation-building efforts as he established the department of rural development where sanitation issues were taken on board as an integrated package together with the Town and Country Planning and Town Development Committees.

He implored government to go back and implement some of the local government structures put in place by Nkrumah to address sanitation issues, noting that Ghanaians would be the ultimate beneficiaries.

“Taking a cue from Nkrumah, I propose that we only throw a searchlight on our Ministries, Departments and Agencies and demand from duty bearers how they have delivered on their mandate”, he added.

Mr. Frimpong-Nnuroh called on all including Civil Society to hold government accountable to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Six, which advocated for safe and affordable drinking water, and sanitation for all by the year 2030.

He further encouraged government to invest in adequate infrastructure to provide good sanitation.

On security, he urged the security agencies to be proactive, saying, any threat to national security no matter its nature, source, size and form, must be of paramount interest to be investigated.

Mr. Frimpong-Nnuroh also called for the establishment of a research library and database management units for the coordination of information on public policies and legislation.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Irene Oppong, the Central Regional Public Relations Officer also called on the general public to cooperate with the police to effectively combat crime in the country.

She said the Police as a security entity “is not a public enemy in the society but must be seen as friends”, saying that, the Ghana Police Service among others, existed to protect people and ensure that the communities are safe and free from crime with the help of informants.

Nana Ekua Suapem Nyaniba I, Queen mother of Dehia Traditional Area who chaired the function called on Ghanaians to stop practices that destroyed the country's environment and stifled development.