Let's have a Sanitation Authority – stakeholders

Private stakeholders in the sanitation sector have urged the Government to establish a Sanitation Authority to assist in their service delivery across the country.

According to them, the Metropolitan, Municipality and District Assemblies lacked professional health engineers to effectively implement policies and research findings on sanitation.

Mr Issaka Balima Musah, the Country Programme Manager, Water and Sanitation, Urban Poor (WSUP), speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting towards improving on liquid waste management in the urban cities, said without the Authority, the major problems would remain unsolved.

He cited the Community Water and Sanitation Service as one clear example, which ‘worked the magic’ for water delivery service in the country.

The meeting was at the instance of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) to introduce them to the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana, which is to motivate MMDAs to partner with private institutions to formulate innovations to address the liquid waste problem.

The programme, sponsored by United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), has a total prize value of 1.43 million pounds. It would be delivered in multiple rounds over a three-and-half year period.

The first prize, dubbed:” Duapa Award”, would be given to MMDAs, which have designed the best urban liquid waste management strategies.

After the first prize, the implementation period of the liquid waste strategies would commence and continue until November 2018, during which honorary award ceremonies would be organised to reward competing MMDAs who had been innovative and effective in implementing their liquid waste strategies.

The final Grand prize would be awarded to MMDAs who had made the most progress in implementing their strategies by the end of the competition period in December 2018.

Mr Demedeme Naa, the Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of MLGRD, said the time had come for the country to start thinking outside the box to do things differently by bringing everybody on board to achieve a common goal.

He said the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana was an innovation launched last year by the government to reward Excellence in Urban Liquid Waste Management by motivating MMDAs to improve sanitation in the urban cities.

He said the aim was is to promote competition among MMDAs and to motivate them to team up with their citizens, innovators and problem solvers to design and implement liquid waste management strategies and to bring about transformational change to poor households in urban centres.

Ms Henrietta Osei-Tutu, the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of MLGRD, said the challenge was open up to 136 pre-qualified MMDAs, divided into two different categories; Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies with populations exceeding 15,000 inhabitants and District Assemblies with population of more than 15,000, according to 2010 National Population Census.

She said the MMDAs were required to complete an online registration form, indicating their desire to participate in the competition, after which potential MMDAs would be required to develop liquid waste management strategies using the online template.

She said winners would be awarded financially.

“The deadline for registration and submission of the development strategies is April 30, 2016, while the first award ceremony would be held in June.