Sanitation and Water Resources Minister designate, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has lauded President Akufo-Addo on his statement in making Accra the cleanest city in his first term in office.
Reacting to a question posed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, with graphic exhibit of the bad sanitation practiced in some parts of Accra, further buttressed by President Akufo-Addo’s statement made in Parliament on Thursday, February 21, which he reiterated that he will make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his first tenure, Mrs. Dapaah justifiably said the “we are on course” response to progress made on sanitation in Accra can be achieved collectively as a country.
Mrs. Dapaah further in her submission disclosed the status of the promised by saying that “the President must be commended for this bold declaration”.
“Indeed the President didn’t only say that he would want to make Accra the cleanest city, he said the whole country needs to be cleaned.
“It was up to us the stakeholders and key players to do our part. As the honorable minister has exhibited, we also do monitor around and I will not doubt all these pictures; as I speak, our monitors are on the field.
“We do have a challenge with solid waste that is why we need sanitation authority to help strategize and direct affairs especially in the central business districts; they do have a huge problem and one area that we have identified is that they don’t even work on Sundays- those who hold the franchise [and] we are still negotiating with them”.
Cecilia Dapaah
Citing issues with logistics, the Sanitation and Water Resources minister-designate emphasized the need to “pay tribute to the contractors who through their association have gotten some of these contracts to up their game” and also for stressing the need for the “monitoring unit to make sure they move around and before sunrise in ensuring things are in place”.
“We’ve taken notes of their challenges and I’m sure that very soon we find long-lasting, sustainable solutions to them. On the president’s declaration, I want to reiterate and emphasize that it’s a very bold declaration and we need all of us… and the answer is play your part. These are the areas we need to emphasize and send logistics to and we are not oblivious of that”.
Commenting on the policies on sanitation at the beaches by government over the last four years to avert the increasing rate of plastic pollution in the country, Mrs. Dapaah stated that efforts are being made to forestall an overwhelming situation.
“I believe I have spent sleepless nights on some of these challenges… and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The taskforce that we also set up includes the Ministry of Tourism and we have encouraged them… and I believe that the way to go is to make sure the plastic policy is operationalized to take care of the plastics before they get into our drains”.
We’re 85% through with making Accra the cleanest city in Africa – Sanitation Minister
