The coalition of NGOs in water and sanitation (CONIWAS) has called on the government to set a realistic target and a blueprint aimed at achieving the clean Accra promise made by President Akufo-Addo in 2017.
This comes on the back of the sector minister-designate Cecilia Abena Dapaah’s assertion at her vetting Tuesday that the Akufo-Addo administration is on course to achieve the promise to make Accra the cleanest city.
This is despite visible evidence of the poor sanitation in many parts of the capital.
Speaking to Starr News, Chairman of CONIWAS Attah Arhin argued that a proper roadmap must be drawn to achieve the target.
He said “I have difficulty because we all understand that it was supposed to end December 2020 and so if after December 2020 it wasn’t achieved then you’ll have to set a new target. But if you say it’s on course, something that has already expired, I have difficulty with that.”
“What I think is that we should set a very realistic target, develop a blueprint for it, cost it so that all stakeholders would be able to contribute to it, that is what I think we should be doing.”
He went on to add that “but if you ask me, I think we have a long way to go, a very long way to go. If you want to achieve that, I have always said that you need to increase financing substantially, that is not what we have seen in the WASH sector over the last four years. You need to ensure that law enforcement is effective, so far that has not been done.”
“You need to develop robust infrastructure, we have seen some acts towards that, but it’s still a long way to go. And also public education, a sustained comprehensive public education which we are not doing.”
Mr. Arhin, however, commended Madam Dapaah for her effort in the past four years noting “first one is that the minister has been able to do a few things which for me when sustained will be beneficial. The first one is the fight towards public awareness, sensitization. Also, her ability to attract private sector participation into the sector has been good.”
-Ghana|Starrfm
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