Akufo-Addo has eradicated Cholera – Sanitation Minister

Ghana has not recorded a single cholera case since President Akufo-Addo assumed office in 2017, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah has asserted.

According to her, the President has eradicated the disease from the country.

Speaking during the approval of the 2019 budget performance report of her ministry, Madam Dapaah argued the NPP administration is expanding water supply to many homes and dealing with unsanitary conditions which give rise to diseases such as cholera.

She said “I believe the picture will be totally different when the report is done on the 2020 performance. Because on record, the government of the current president of the republic, his tenure will give us the quantum of water that we have never had in this country.”

“The Tamale water project alone will move from 30,000 cubic meters of water, we will be adding 135,000 cubic meters of water. It’s the largest water system that we will be putting in place in Tamale,” she noted.

In a contribution, Board Chairman for Ghana Water Company Ltd Alexander Afenyo-Markin argued the Nana Addo administration has invested heavily in sanitation especially in deprived communities.

He said “If today upon appraisal, it has been established that funds allocated to the ministry were not abused but that the people benefited from these funds then I will agree with the honorable minority leader that there is a need to make more budgetary allocations. Because it’s been put to good use and no doubt, with this commendable effort by the ministry, all of us will support the finance minister when he comes back to the house to ask for more money to be invested in the area of water.”

“The Tono water system is on course. Was there myself when the sod was cut and the contractors are working. Yendi, Tamale is there for many years. This government prioritises it and I’m happy today it has been cited.”

Former deputy minister for Works and housing Sampson Ahi accused the Effutu MP of failing to appreciate the efforts of the erstwhile Mahama administration in water provision and sanitation.

“The board chairman for Ghana Water Company Limited spoke about extension of distribution networks in the water sector and he mentioned some communities in Greater Accra where they benefited from this expansion project. What he did not add is the source of funding for all these extensions.”

He added “I know that he is aware that we secured 48 million dollars from the World Bank to undertake this expansion and change of obsolete pipelines, equipment in the water sector and so we started the program. Go to Madina, go to Adenta, we extended pipelines to cover all those places.”

“And so they came in and continued the distribution network and I thought that it will be fair on his part to commend the previous government for having started the extension of pipelines into newly developed communities. So that he can go ahead and praise the current government, but to be silent on it as a board chairman I thought it is not fair,” he ended.