A Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Emmanuel Agyekum, has called for a national effort in dealing vigorously with the issue of environmental sanitation, which he described as a hydra-headed canker.
Mr. Emmanuel Agyekum noted that the only strategy that can completely remedy this canker is attitudinal change and, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to join forces in fighting it to reduce the incidence of illness.
According to Mr. Agyekum, environmental protection and sanitation challenges have become pronounced in view of the urbanization of settlement patterns, which has left in its wake dire consequences to the environmental health situation.
He stated that “what is even more perilous is our lack of proper management practices needed to to deal with the situation”.
The Deputy Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Nkoranza South in the Bono Ahafo Region, was speaking in Accra, at the official ceremony to mark the deployment of Ghana Students Industrial Attachment Programme (GSIAP).
GSIAP is an initiative geared towards bridging the gap between theory taught in schools and practice in the industry.
About 15,000 volunteers across the country are to be recruited through the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. Under the programme, 1,200 volunteers will be recruited from the six metropolitan areas; 5,500 from the 55 municipals and 7,750 will be recruited from the districts.
So far about 10,000 volunteers have been registered to begin the campaign.
The Deputy Minister said his outfit believes that student volunteers have a serious role to play in finding solutions to the nation’s environmental sanitation problems and therefore finds the Programme “very appropriate and germane to deliver solutions to our sanitation issues”.
