Wednesday, 22nd September, 2021b

Page 8
DAILY ANALYST Wednesday, 22nd September, 2021
Environmental & Mining Matters
Sustain sanitation campaign
The Omanhen of the
Oguaa Traditional Area,
Osabarimba Kwesi
Atta II, has called for
sustained efforts to deal
with the sanitation challenges of
the country.
He said if that was not done,
not only would the health of
the citizenry be threatened; it
could also be a major drawback
at efforts at promoting tourism
in the country, particularly in the
Central Region.
Osabarimba Atta made the call
at a sanitation awareness forum
organised by the Graphic Communications
Group Limited (GCGL),
in conjunction with Zoomlion
Ghana Limited (ZGL), in Cape
Coast yesterday.
“It is important to have an
environment that is appealing
and attractive to visitors. We cannot
get visitors to patronise our
tourist sites such as our beaches if
they are unhygienic and unattractive,”
he emphasised.
Forum
The forum, held on the theme:
“National sanitation awareness
campaign”, was intended to raise
national discourse on how to
manage and deal with the sanitation
challenges in the country.
Launched in Accra on April 28,
2021, the campaign is advocating
strict enforcement of sanitation
bye-laws, as well as the naming
and shaming of sanitation offenders.
The forum has so far been held
in nine regions where stakeholders
have discussed sustained ways
of solving Ghana’s sanitation
challenges.
Open defecation
Osabarimba Atta, who chaired
the event, bemoaned open defecation
at the beaches and called
on the authorities to help clamp
down on the practice to improve
tourism.
According to him, it was a
very worrying development that
residents living along the beaches
attended to the call of nature
at the beaches which served as
tourism hubs for many coastal
—Oguaamanhen
Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister, at the
communities.
He said open defecation at the
beaches had the tendency to ward
off tourists from visiting such
places to boost the local tourism
industry.
"Indeed, many countries
around the world are reaping the
full benefits from their beaches
through tourism, and Ghana can
do same by improving sanitation
at the beaches to attract tourists,"
he said.
He added that in order for the
nation to fully benefit from its
natural environment, particularly
beaches, it must take steps to
make the beaches clean to boost
tourism in coastal areas and improve
the local economy as well.
“One challenge that needs
to be tackled head on is open
defecation at our beaches. That
is not only unhygienic but also
an action that does not promote
tourism. We cannot attract tourists
to particularly our beaches if
we can not deal with the menace,”
he said, and stressed the need for
swift action.
The Omanhene commended
the GCGL and Zoomlion for the
collaboration aimed at complementing
government’s agenda to
improve sanitation in the country.
Strict enforcement of by-laws
The Central Regional Minister,
Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, in
her submission, charged metropolitan,
municipal and district
assemblies (MMDAs) to strictly
enforce by-laws on sanitation to
help address sanitation challenges
in the region.
According to her, the strict enforcement
of by-laws would help
trim down insanitary conditions
to a minimal level and help reduce
the spread of sanitation-related
diseases and infections in
the region.
“It is important for MMDAs to
strictly enforce existing by-laws
on sanitation to win the fight
against poor sanitation in the
region for the ultimate benefit of
all,” she said.
Collective efforts
Mrs Assan emphasised that issues
relating to sanitation were a
shared responsibility, and that all
major stakeholders were required
to play their respective roles towards
improving conditions in all
communities.
She stressed the need for collective
efforts by all stakeholders
for the nation to be able to deal
with all sanitation-related issues.
“Let us put our shoulders to
the wheel and commit to improving
insanitary conditions in the
country. As a country, we can win
the war against poor sanitation
if the citizenry complemented
efforts by the institutions and
agencies mandated to spearhead
the fight,” she indicated.
Poor attitude
The Editor of the Daily Graphic,
Mr Kobby Asmah, in a speech delivered
on his behalf by the Deputy
Editor, Mr Theophilus Yartey, bemoaned
the poor attitude towards
keeping the environment clean,
stressing that it was nothing to
write home about and rather cost
the nation dearly.
He said it was time to deal
decisively with non-conformists
and punish sanitation offenders
according to the law, adding:
“Clearly, there is a problem dealing
with filth in the country; to keep
the nation clean will require an
all-hands-on-deck approach.”
He noted that issues of sanitation
were everybody’s business
and not one-sided, and so demanding
accountability from leaders
alone would not yield the desired
results.
“We should demand accountability
from all and sundry, including
those who litter the streets,”
he stressed.
Whip up citizenry
Mr Asmah said the GCGL was
focused on efforts to get the citizenry
to adhere to good sanitation
habits and practices, noting: “We
are satisfied that the national sanitation
campaign has received the
backing of all MMDAs to enforce
sanitation regulations aimed at
keeping the environment clean.”
He said the GCGL and its partners
were determined to sustain
the sanitation awareness campaign
and make the most out of it
to help make the nation clean for
the benefit of all, adding: “We hope
to build such a collaboration with
district assemblies to improve sanitation
across the country.”
The Senior Communications
Manager of the ZGL, Mr Adams
Mohammed Mahama, disclosed
that plans were underway for the
construction of an Integrated
Recycling and Composting Plant
in the region.
He noted that the enforcement
of by-laws and attitudinal
change were key towards improving
sanitation in the region, noting
that “if these two measures
are put in place and enforced, the
region will be able achieve the
expected results on sanitation”.
Concerns
On how to address the issue
of insanitary conditions in the
region, Assistant Superintendent
of Prisons Thomas K. Kumapley
called on the government to sign
a memorandum of understanding
with the Ghana Prisons Service
to engage inmates of the prisons
to clean public places and other
facilities on a regular basis.
“If we want to effectively
engage stakeholders in fighting
sanitation-related issues, I believe
the government can partner the
Prisons Service to get inmates to
help clean up public places,” he
said.
Other participants lamented
the bad state of public sanitary
facilities, stressing that their
current state contributed to open
defecation in some communities.
The Assembly Member for
the Kru-Town Electoral Area, Mr
Doffoe Forson, said most households
lacked toilet facilities, while
available public toilet facilities
were in a bad state.
“The state of our public facilities
is very bad and people who
do not have toilets in their homes
prefer going to the shore to ease
themselves,” he said.
He called on government to
ramp up on efforts at getting
households to own toilets to
address sanitation challenges,
stressing: “There is the need to
coordinate and sustain individual
efforts at keeping personal
hygiene and ensuring that local
communities are kept clean at all
times.”—www.graphiconline.com
Afriwave Telecom
has rehabilitated an
abandoned water
facility to serve the
over 7,000 residents of
the Ekye-Amanfrom community
in the Kwahu Afram Plains South
District of the Eastern Region
with potable water.
The facility was constructed
by the Millennium Development
Authority (MiDA), but was
abandoned by the community for
a decade due to the salty taste of
the water from the borehole.
Afriwave is a Ghanaian company
which provides telecommunications
solutions and the
first interconnect clearinghouse
service in Ghana.
The rehabilitation works,
undertaken upon an appeal by
the community, included the tapping
of the raw water from the
Afram River through submersible
pumps and pipes, which had
been extended 750 metres into
the river from the shore.
With the extended pipes, raw
water can now be effectively and
efficiently channelled through
Ekye-Amanfrom gets potable water
treatment plants before it is
pumped into storage tanks for
accessibility by the people.
The treatment plant has also
been improved to deal with the
salty taste of the water.
Critical need
At the inauguration ceremony,
the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of Afriwave Telecom, Mr
Francis Poku, said access to safe
drinking water was a fundamental
right of every citizen and not
a luxury or a privilege.
“The revamped water facility
means the community will have
access to clean drinking water
which will in turn impact the
health and sanitation of the
thousands who desperately need
it,” he said.
He further noted that Afriwave,
as part of its corporate
social responsibility activities,
had also supported the education
of the youth in ICT by giving opportunity
to students from public
and private universities to learn
on the job as interns and national
service persons.
The Commercial Director
of Afriwave Telecom, Mr Henry
Searyoh, said the rehabilitation
of the water facility was further
proof of how the company had
elevated the needs of the people
as a priority.
He said the gesture was also
to support the community in the
fight against COVID-19 given that
clean water was key to efforts to
stop the spread of the virus.
“Afriwave is a people-centered
brand and we are happy to touch
lives by saving the residents of
Ekye Amanfrom from drinking
unsafe water,” he stated.
Problem solved
The Secretary to the Unit
Committee of Ekye-Amanfrom,
Mr Charles Sebi, who led the
campaign to solicit support for
the repair works, expressed appreciation
to Afriwave for coming
to their aid.
“We are grateful that our cry
for help caught your attention,”
he said.—www.graphiconline.
com
facility was commissioned