National Sanitation Day, the Way Forward -

The year 2014 will surely go into the annals of Ghana, as the year of an unmatched outbreak of cholera, snuffing the lives of hundreds. As at October, 2014 cholera cases specifically recorded was 20,279 with 169 deaths.

This situation was very perilous hence precipitating the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to initiate the National Sanitation Day (NSD) in November, 2014. It is believed that the NSD which has been injected into the first Saturday of every month shall deal with our embarrassingly poor sanitation and will improve upon the quality of life in Ghana.

The National Health Students’ Association of Ghana (NAHSAG) lauds government for the introduction of such an initiative, however, we believe there is more room for improvement.

We discredit various comments of some fellow nationals such as Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah who remark the exercise as a complete waste of time whilst we encourage all citizens to partake in this exercise and endeavour to uphold high hygienic standard. We believe that proper sanitary conditions and good health for citizens are inevitability intertwined with our development as a nation. For instance When Peru had a cholera outbreak in 1991, losses from tourism and agricultural revenue were three times greater than the total money spent on sanitation in the previous decade, and hence we should be swift toward preventing and kicking cholera out of Ghana.

Defeating Cholera requires a united effort from all angle, therefore, in our bid to seeing the National Sanitation day initiative thrive and Cholera defeated, NAHSAG which is a national representative body made up of all health students and fresh graduates in and from the various Health Training Institutions and Universities across the length and breadth of Ghana hereby submits the following:

ATTITUDINAL CHANGE AND EDUCATION

It is disheartening that this national exercise which we believe is meant to promote voluntary cleaning of communities is been fought tremendously with apathy from most citizens. It is moreover appalling that a day set to clean homes and streets is seen as a political deed rather than a national event by a section of people in the country. Instead of politicking with the scheme, we may want to see it as a step in the right direction.

Maybe the Government needs to change public perception about such a good course, maybe more education on sanitation and health would be necessary, or maybe some Ghanaians would need to step out of mediocrity and help in keeping their surroundings clean.

Reports indicate that, the NSD has not received the expected patronage in some areas of the country. In this vain, the mass media should play an active role in sensitizing the general public on the need for maintaining clean surroundings and help boost the interest of citizens toward this national exercise for we believe furthering and sustaining the enthusiasm of citizens towards the NSD is important in getting all hands on deck and the activity to stand the test of time.

SANCTIONS

As indicated at the official launch of this project, the then Minster, Hon. Julius Debrah indicated that the current laws on sanitation are weak and non-operating., this is partly responsible for the multi-system non-compliance and encouraging community members to sometimes deliberately refuse to join the working force. Shops and stalls owners fearlessly operate as cleaning goes on and we believe this is demotivating!

We entreat the appropriate outfits to come out with a bye-law that will make it obligatory for every person to not only take part in the NSD, but also maintain a clean surrounding. Government needs to institute bye laws to castigate people who stay away and we entreat Parliament should pass a bill that shall give the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development the legal backing to prosecute reprobates.

Moreover the Inability of most local assemblies to effectively complement the efforts of the ministry by enforcing bye-laws on sanitation makes the exercise counter-productive. Therefore we entreat all local assemblies to step-up their individual efforts geared towards this exercise.

We encourage recent developments also, for instance with the Ashanti regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye seeking for sanctions to be unleashed on citizens who deliberately abstain from the exercise. Another news item also indicates that the Tema Municipal Assembly prosecuted 13 persons, for not showing interest in the 7th February cleaning (Section 15, sub section 3 (1) of TMA Bye Law 2007 of the Govt Bulletin 2009).

NAHSAG believes that if the laws on sanitation are harnessed, the nation would make headway!

TEMA WORK AND COLLABORATIONS

We further recommend that the ministry collaborates with other external agencies and corporate institutions; private companies, NGO’s and Civil Society Organisations. Churches, Muslim groups and other religious groups are encouraged to show much commitment towards this course, the Ghana Education Service should compel both private and public schools to take active part in the exercise in our bid to instil voluntary community and environmental cleaning in citizens.

Government should institute Community Sanitation Committees, School Health Committees, Water and Sanitation Management Teams for every electoral area, and the role of Unit Committees should be more evident in this regard.

SUSTENANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS

There is the reservation of the fear that the National Sanitation Day will yield no results, or will die prematurely. In some areas, refuse gathered on the shoulders of the streets as at November, have still not been carted. Others fly into the gutters and productivity remains zero.

It is worth noting that a blueprint to monitor and ensure that the NSD initiative does not turn a nine-day wonder is required. There used to be a National Sanitation Conference (NASCON) where stakeholders meet to draw up policies. We believe, such assemblies will be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of such projects, and will as well see to the effective management of waste in the country.

Moreover the role of the environmental health officer cannot be elapsed in our quest to stop Cholera. These officers over the years have helped instil sanity in our communities and caused a drastic attitudinal change in citizens. It is very unfortunate that graduates from the three Schools of Hygiene (SOH) in this country namely, SOH Korle-Bu, Ho, and Temale have not been posted Since 2011/2012. Every year students graduate from these schools and are left stranded, where we believe their rich experience in preventive health can be employed especially in this era of Cholera. We therefore plead with government to get these graduate posted in our quest to kick Cholera out of Ghana and to create a proper sanitary environment in the nation. We finally call for the institutionalization of a community-based participatory monitoring and evaluation mechanism to track the work and progress of each community.

By Patrick Fynn

Signed

Frank Amoakohene

(NAHSAG President)