The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, embarked on a tour with the Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah and other stakeholders, to access the situation at some waste dumping site in Accra on Monday, October 8.
The tour was organized by the Ministry for Sanitation and Water Resources to find long lasting solutions to the sanitation menace in the country. Some sites visited by the Minister and her delegates include Sakaman electoral area, Glefe Mamponse, Korle Dudor Area, ICGC Area, and Osu Alata.
In her interaction with the media, Mrs Dapaah revealed that the Sakaman electoral area which was formerly used as a refuse dumping site will be renovated into a market place for market women at Sakaman.
She indicated that measures are being put in place to help in the modernization of the Sakaman Electoral Area.
In Ghana, one major problem is filth with many labelling plastic waste as a significant sanitation problem in the country. The Sanitation Minister revealed that in order to curb the plastic waste menace, the youth must be educated in the recycling process.
“We have people who are recycling plastics, we will encourage the youth… we don’t have to wait once we see them let us go for them and have them recycled. The sea are being choked, our fishes are been choked, it’s our duty to make sure that when we do generate plastic waste we send them to the appropriate place. No barrier limits us so we will also endeavor to tap into your knowledge and your expertise and work with. Ghanaians are very good people, hardworking people, neat people, so we need to encourage that.”
According to the minister, small incinerators will be provided in some areas to help with compost as well as engage scientists in Ghana to find a lasting solution to the sanitation problem.
“Most of the garbage generated in the market they are all organic food items, why do we even wait till it gets rotten before we throw them out, whiles people are also hungry… we should have an organic site where it can turn into compost. We are even going to clamor for small incinerators in areas that can be used. They are cheaper, and we will make sure they are used for compost… we are going to engage our scientists CSIR, Tech engineers, to make sure we fashion out a solution to some of this problem,” Mrs Dapaah said.
The Sanitation Minister further added that she believes that Ghanaians should not be hindered from keeping the sea and their environs clean.
She charged citizens to continue practices which will ensure cleanliness in their surroundings.
The Sanitation Ministry agenda was introduced by President Akufo-Addo amid his pledge to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his tenure in office.
Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah has indicated that the AMA is faced with some challenges in dealing with the drainage system.
He explained that with the help of the World Bank some projects are going to be worked on which would dredge the Odo as well as construct some transfer stations within the city center.
“We are talking about solid waste and drainage maintenance, indeed what was conceived under the Conti project. It’s to deal with all the drainage system in Accra including that of the Odo drain but it has not been done well. It is confronted with challenges, the ministry has really looked at it but partially some of the projects are going to be taken under the World Bank project called the Greater Accra Resilient Integrated Project; which would dredge the Odo as well as construct some transfer stations within the city center and have retention ponds as well so that when it rains it doesn’t flow straight into the Odo drain.
“At the moment we are at the receiving end of all wastes from the upstream and what it means is that we need to step up especially the rain at dawn so you could see that plastic wastes have been washed into the drains…it is a challenge but not only for AMA…but it is not an excuse you should also prepare to clean it all the time,” He stated.
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