Sanitation Ministry to Reactivate WASH Sector Working Group

The Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Patrick Yaw Boamah has hinted of plans to re-activate the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Working Group to provide proper diagnose of the sector issues for the right solution.

He indicated that the WASH Sector Working Group which brings senior staff of the ministry together with Development Partners, International NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on regular basis for join sector review.

Hon. Yaw Boamah said this at the opening ceremony of the 29^th edition of the Mole Conference series held in Sogakope in the Volta Region under the theme, “Reforming Ghana’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector Towards Universal Access,” organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS).

Similarly, the Zimbabwe’s Cabinet has since directed the Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management, as the lead ministry, to ensure the speed conclusion of formulation process of the WASH policy. This, however, entails the preparation of background papers for some of the policy chapters, the coordination and consultation of various stakeholders and the actual write up and finalisation of the policy document.

While recognising the important role of the National Action Committee (NAC) and other established coordination mechanisms, the Zimbabwe’s Minister of Water Resources Development and Management intends to establish a WASH Sector Working Group (WSWG), to provide technical and strategic visioning and backstopping to the NAC in this process as well as coordination of implementation of sector programmes.

The overall objective of the WASH Sector Working Group is to provide a forum for consultation, and make recommendations to support Government’s efforts to attain its long term goals of financial viability and environmental sustainability of the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. Broadly the WSWG shall be a strategic sector think-tank backstopping the NAC in the preparation of sector policy and processes leading to sustained sector recovery. It brings together government and donors at technical and managerial levels.

Hon. Patrick Yaw Boamah added that the National Water Policy (2007) and Environmental Sanitation Policy (2010) and other Strategic Frameworks need to be revised to align with the SDG 6.

He indicated that the ministry is working on modalities to get them reviewed and to be aligned.

“Our deliberations with key development partners in the past few months include the need to get these policies and frameworks revised. Once these are done and the right institutional arrangements put in place, we believe we can count on the support of our Development Partners and Civil Society Organizations to align their programs, projects and activities as well,” the sector minister stated.

According to him, the ministry will focus some attention on the bad practice of farming close to the banks of our water bodies causing water pollution in the country.

By this practice, he stressed that poisonous pesticides eventually find their way into our water bodies, causing public health hazards and risk to the people.

Mr. Yaw Boamah intimated that Water pollution, which has affected the operational cost of GWCL and has become a threat to water security, must be tackled head-on.

He posited that the ministry will continue to dialogue with CONIWAS and its members, to reflect their contributions into the ongoing reforms, to ensure the ministry get their support and by extension, the communities towards universal access to sustainable WASH services by 2030 or earlier, based on the projections of the Water Sector Strategic Development Plan (2012-2025).

The Deputy Minister charged CONIWAS to embark on membership drive in other to bring all the other CSOs who are not yet members of the Coalition to ensure a formidable force to engage effectively other stakeholders in pursuing the Nation’s WASH sector agenda.