Chiefs and local authorities advised against burying the dead in homes

The Chief Executive Officer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Clement Bugase, has advised chiefs and local authorities in the Northern Region of Ghana against burying dead relatives in homes.

He also cited disposing off of sewage (human excreta/dirty water) and garbage close to fresh water bodies as a wrongful practice.

Mr. Bugase made these statements during a familiarization visit to Daboya, the North Gonja District capital.

Mr. Bugase therefore, urged chiefs and metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to take keen interest in the management and sustainability of water bodies in their localities.

The familiarization visit was part of a regional tour by the Board of the CWSA to inspect rural water projects of the Agency in various MMDAs in order to ascertain progress of ongoing construction work and how best to increase water accessibility rate in those MMDAs.

The visit also offered the CWSA Board an opportunity to share some field experiences of the performance of the Small Town Water and Sanitation System with local authorities, chiefs and opinion leaders as well as Water and Sanitation Management Teams.

CWSA among other things provide technical support to MMDAs to promote the sustainability of safe water supply and related sanitation services in rural communities and small towns. It enable MMDAs encourage the active involvement of communities, especially women, in the design, planning, construction and community management of water and sanitation projects.

CWSA also formulate strategies for the effective mobilization of resolution for the execution of safe water development and related sanitation programmes; as well as encourage private sector participation in the provision of safe drinking water supply and related sanitation service.

Mr. Bugase and the Board of CWSA inspected ongoing work at the Daboya Water Supply System. When completed, it is expected to have a tank capacity of 150 metres cube, with a daily production of 121,556 gallons and would serve an estimated population of 10,860.

According to him, the project cost GH¢2,657,491.00 and was being funded by the Government of Ghana. He assured the chiefs and people of Daboya that the CWSA would implore the contractor working on the ongoing Daboya Water Supply System to speed up work to enable emerging communities to get water.

He revealed that government policy is to ensure that by 2025, no Ghanaian should drink polluted water.

A Chief Director at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in-charged of Environmental Health and Safety, Naa Demedeme Lenason also expressed disappointment at poor sanitation in Daboya.

According to him, despite the availability of logistics such as communal containers, tricycles and vehicles to evacuate the heaps of refuse in the Daboya Township, he wondered why there were refuse dumps everywhere especially in public places saying, "it means that something is wrong".

Naa Demedeme who is also a member of the CWSA Board said even though he sympathized with the challenges of the Assembly, he believed they were not making more efforts to resolve those challenges.

He advised officials of the Assembly to resource Sanitation and Environmental Health Officers and get them to discharge their mandate without fear or favour for improved waste management and cleanliness in the communities.