The Upper West Deputy Regional Minister, Hon. Amidu Issahaku Chinnia on Tuesday, 6th November 2018 appealed to all MMDAs to pass bye-laws to compel people who construct compound houses to incorporate sanitation facilities in them. Hon Amidu Chinnia said this in his welcome address during a one day orientation workshop on district sanitation fund on 6th November, 2018 at Nuoyong Empire Hotel.
According to him, landlords constructs houses without sanitation facilities (latrines) thereby making it very difficult for tenants to observe proper sanitation.
“Pass bye-laws as one of the major means of changing the attitude of our people. We all come from communities, and various towns. We see the amount of money people invest in building compound houses and if I go to rent one or two rooms in someone’s compound house, you don’t expect me to build a latrine on my own. The owner of the compound house is supposed to make provision for a sanitation facility in that compound house. I want to urge the MMDCEs and the Assemblies to pass bylaws to compel people who construct compound houses to incorporate sanitation facilities in these houses” he explained.
Hon. Chinnia indicated that, once people build houses without toilet facilities, the individuals who go to rent such houses would have no option than to do open defecation. He therefore charged the MMDCEs and the Assemblies to force people who invest in building houses for rentals to incorporate latrines and sanitation facilities in their plan.
He added that, considering the investment that we can make in the area of sanitation relative to the investment we make in curing people when they fall sick, it was better for us to choose the former. He said, we spend less investing in sanitation, then allow people to do open defecation and live in environments that are dirty and subsequently fall sick and government has to spend public funds to cure them.
He noted that, people who do their little investment and get some small money would have to spend all those funds in treating ailments as a result of poor sanitation. This is one challenge that continues to impoverish the people.
He advised that, the minds of the people should be orientated good in sanitation.
According to him, it was better to invest in improving our sanitation situation which invariably would cut down on sanitation related illnesses.
The sanitation marketing programme was a new module being introduced under the GOG-UNICEF WASH programme. A key component of the sanitation marketing (SANMARK) Program will be the establishment of the District Sanitation fund. This fund is a type of sanitation financing facility to be set aside by the District Assemblies aimed at providing financial support for the construction of household latrines in the Districts. Sources of funding for the district sanitation fund includes: (A) 2% of the District Assembly common fund. (B) Internal generated fund (c) Donor agencies; development partners and corperate bodies.
Mr. Chinnia Issahaku encouraged all MMDCEs to take advantage of the sanitation fund in solving sanitation problems in the various Districts. He said, sanitation has become one of the biggest challenge in Ghana, with a lot of development partners putting in a lot of funds trying to solve the problems but there is still no positive results.
He advised MMDCEs to immediately set up the fund and get desk officers or committees to manage it base on an annual plan.
“Once the sanitation fund is set up from the common fund and it is operational, the development partners would come in to give their support, and a lot of things can be done. We need to be creative and innovative enough in getting things done to support the Government rather than pocketing our hands waiting for common fund to come before something can be done” he added.