Water and sanitation sector needs qualified workers – Expert

Deputy Director of the Regional Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre (RWESC) at KNUST, Professor Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng, says experts with technical knowhow are needed to improve water and sanitation conditions in the country.

He explained that such experienced persons will help address issues of planning and implementing designs for water and sanitation systems, operating and maintaining facilities in the sector as well as monitoring and evaluating the sector to improve service delivery.

In an interview with Ghanaweb at a workshop on human capacity development in the water and environmental sanitation sector, Professor Oduro-Kwarteng asserted that there is a human resource gap in terms of expertise in the water and sanitation sector.

He said, “We need to look at the capacity of the people who are working in the sector. We really need more technical people. We need people who have the technical expertise and skills to be able to deliver. As at now, there is a human resource gap when it comes to the technical aspect of delivering sanitation.”

According to Prof Oduro-Kwarteng, “To improve water and sanitation, we really need the human resources, the people, the workers, to be able to plan and implement the designs of the water and sanitation systems. When it comes to the operation and maintenance, we need the people who will be able to operate and maintain the facilities. When it comes to monitoring and evaluation, we need people who will be doing the monitoring and evaluation to bring about improvement in the service delivery.”

Professor Oduro-Kwarteng also bemoaned the poor state of water distribution and issues of sanitation in Ghana and called for the engagement of qualified personnel to address the challenges in the sector.

“The ultimate when it comes to water and sanitation is improved service delivery, or in other words, high quality service. Everybody wants to receive high quality service when it comes to water and sanitation. But if you look at what is happening in Ghana, it’s not like that. Some people don’t have access to water, some people also don’t have access to sanitation facilities,” he reiterated.