Sanitation Ministry Gets UK High Commission Support To Fight Filth

The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Iain Walker has pledged to support the good work of the Hon. Cecilia Dapaah and her Sanitation Ministry to help fight the country’s sanitation.

This was revealed by Mr Iain Walker on Tuesday, June 18, 2019, during a courtesy call on Hon. Cecilia Dapaah at the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry in Accra.

The Ministry under the current government has been charged to tackle Ghana’s Sanitation problem in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal’s (SDGs) ‘number 6’ which focuses on clean water and Sanitation.

Hon. Cecilia Dapaah and her Ministry in the past six months have intensified their efforts to prioritize sanitation as well as tackling waste management through collaboration with other Ministries.

Hosting the British High Commissioner at her office yesterday, the Sanitation Minister indicated that plastic waste is the nation's headache but are working with some private partners to find innovative ways to turn wastes into opportunities that will create jobs for the youth and also generate some income.

She opines that they are hoping companies that engage in waste treatment such as Zoomlion will be able to expand their business to exploit other opportunities in the area so as to be able to provide employment opportunities.

“There are companies like Zoomlion and the likes who engage in waste treatment, it creates job opportunities, and it is also lucrative and can be recycled to be used for many other things.

“At the end of the day, what we want from them is for them to be keen on the work they do in order for the business to grow to ensure many of the youth can be employed. Government is looking at bringing in bigger recycling plants that can mop up all the extra plastics”, Hon. Cecilia Dapaah said.

On his side, Mr. Iain Walker stressed the British High Commission is keen on promoting the agenda of the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry to address the sanitation issues in the country.

“I think we are really now as you talked about aqua-Africa. We have to pick those projects and deliver and make a difference. Not talk but deliver and am really grateful for the character and leadership that you have given and am keen that we do more to move this agenda forward as partners, as friends, to get us to the next level”, the British High Commissioner to Ghana intimated.

He further described the work of the Ministry as very key adding that, providing clean drinking water, improved sanitation and dealing with the many environmental challenges associated with it is hugely important.