Government devotes GH¢200 million to address sanitation

Accra, Feb. 8, - Government has pledged to release GH¢200 million this year to address the sanitation challenge in the country.

   

Addressing Members of Parliament during the State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo said the state of sanitation in the cities was unacceptable.

   

He said it was putting in place measures to resolve the debt inherited in the sector and working with various private sector operators to tackle the issue of sanitation.

   

The President said: “Our cities have been engulfed by filth. There is the urgent need for public authorities to find means of making our cities clean and in the case of Accra, fulfilling my pledge, one of the most ambitious of my presidency, is to make it the cleanest city in Africa by the end of my term”.

   

He said the Government would mount strategies that would effect a change in the attitudes of Ghanaians towards waste generation, and also improve dramatically the methods of waste management.

   

“This will be complemented by the strict enforcement of sanitation rules and regulations.

   

“Urgent attention will be given to clearing of rubbish all around the country,” he said.

   

President Akufo-Addo expressed optimism that by next year the sanitation situation in the country would improve in view of the plans put in place to resolve the menace.

   

The State of the Nation Address is in accordance with Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution, which required the President to deliver the Address at the beginning of Parliament annually.

GNA