GH₵ 200m Invested In Ghana’s Sanitation Fight – Akufo-Addo

Sanitation in the country has improved significantly since President Akufo-Addo promised to make Accra the cleanest city in 2017. This is the assessment of President Akufo-Addo more than a year after he made the declaration.

According to him, although there is a lot more the government can do to ensure that the target is met, it has currently achieved significant results in improving sanitation in the country.

Akufo-Addo told Parliament in the delivery of his 2019 State of the Nation Address said;

“Last year, I reiterated before you, my pledge of improving sanitation in the country and making Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of my term. Mr. Speaker, there has been a significant improvement in sanitation even though I acknowledge that more can be done.”

He said the country had increased the capacity of solid waste it manages from 16% to 53%, noting that the government in 2018 alone constructed more than 35,000 household toilets to deal with open defecation.

“This is currently the state of play, we are witnessing increase of the average of solid waste management to 16% to 53% and over the course of last year, 35,862 household toilets were built as oppose to 1,698 in 2016,” he said.

Akufo-Addo expressed displeasure at the incident of open defecation in the country which he said should not be the case in 2019.

He said such conduct was undeserving of Ghanaians and must be eschewed.

The president said the government was working to enforce sanitation by-laws and deal with persons who flout it.

In 2018, President Akufo-Addo decried filth which he said had engulfed the country’s capital cities.

He further disclosed that a GH¢ 200 million had been earmarked to address the issue of filth, especially in Accra urgently.

“We are putting GH₵ 200m into addressing the sanitation challenges that we have. I am confident that by the time I come back next year, appreciable gains would have been made in improving our sanitation,” he said.

Source: citinewsroom.com | Ghana