Accra, Nov. 13, - Open defecation
costs Ghana over 79 million dollars a year, a 2012 World Bank report says.
It is also estimated, that one in
five Ghanaians defecate openly, whilst only one in seven house-holds in the
country have toilet facilities.
Madam Rushnan Murtaza, a
representative of UNICEF, said this at the launch of the National Sanitation
Campaign, which took place on Monday in Accra.
She said unless the pace of
solving the problem was quickened, it is estimated that Ghana would take about
90 years to end open defecation.
Madam Murtaza described the
launch as a major stepping stone and said the development partners, supported
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufu Addo’s goal of leaving no one behind in the
development of the country.
She urged government to sustain
the campaign adding that resources for the campaign needed to be allocated to
where they were most needed.
Madam Murtaza said the impact of
the campaign should be directly seen in its results.
Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of
Sanitation and Water Resources, said with some innovation, waste management is
one area that holds great potential for job creation.
This is because most of what is
considered as waste could rather be used as a wealth generation resource, he
said.
Mr Adda said in countries where
waste was well regenerated, only ten percent of waste material was thrown away,
adding that in Singapore for example, only two percent of that country’s waste
was gotten rid of, with the rest being recycled into useful products.
The Minister said this system of
dealing with waste, known as the “Circular Economy of Waste Management”, was
what Ghana is targeting.
Mr Adda said it took some other
factors to achieve such productive waste management methods, such as enabling
policies, the right human resource, the needed technological support amongst
others.
He said although waste management
has been a problem in the country over the years, there was an on-going
capacity building efforts to support the new ministry, to deal with the
situation.
Mr Ron Strikker, the Netherlands
Ambassador, commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and the government
for the initiative adding that a clean country held the potential for increased
economic growth.
He said a clean country attracted
investors who contributed greatly to the socio-economic growth of any country.
He said it is important that
every citizen was well aware of the campaign because that made it much more
effective.
The launch was done by President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo.
GNA
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