Collective effort needed to solve sanitation issues - Assembly Member

Mr Enoch Afutu, Assembly Member, Homowo Electoral Area at Tema Newtown, says the only way to solve the sanitation issues is through a collective effort of all stakeholders in the community.

Mr Afutu, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Tema, said, “the issue of sanitation is a very difficult challenge in the country, especially within the Tema Manhean, it requires an active participation of members, churches and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly to join hands to tackle.”

He called on stakeholders to devote resources to ensure that the communities were kept clean, stressing the essence for collective action for all the Assembly members to team up and organize clean-up exercises to curb poor sanitation challenges.

Meanwhile, Mr Afutu expressed concern that “the gutters are interconnected hence if you clean your area and leave, debris move from other parts to where you have cleared within the shortest possible time making the exercise worthless.”

He, however, stated that one big challenge of organizing communal labour in the area was the unavailability of cleaning equipment and pleaded with the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to offer them such tools when the need arises.

“We need tools to work but very unfortunate the Assembly doesn’t always have the tools and equipment that will help us fulfil our mandate,” he said.

He also appealed to churches, mosques, schools and other organizations within the Metropolis to join in the fight against poor sanitation and contribute their quota to keep the community clean.

Mr John Addi, a member of the community, appealed to churches within the Electoral Area to support the Assemblies with sanitation tools to support their work.

“Every Electoral area must have an office where the tools and equipment are kept and a proper inventory to avoid the over-reliance on the Assembly for clean-up tools,” he said.

Some of the community members said the nationwide clean-up exercise should be reinstated to help curb the sanitation issues since that could bring a lasting solution to the sanitation crisis.

“During the monthly clean up exercises, a lot of people took part and the involvement of the army always made the exercise a memorable one so I don’t think it would be wrong to reinstate it,” a community member said.