By Angela Ayimbire
Tema, Jan. 5, GNA – Mr Davis Ansah Opoku, Member of Parliament for Mpraeso Constituency has called on the government to increase the monthly allowances paid to sanitation workers recruited under the sanitation Model of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).
The government under the Sanitation Model recruits sanitation workers but are supervised by Zoomlion which facilitates the payment of their allowances.
The MP also appealed to the government to pay the allowances of the cleaners on time to help make life more comfortable for them.
“I want to appeal to the government to increase the allowances paid to the cleaners and ensure that they get their monies on time to enable them to sort out their challenges.
“We all know that their allowances are quite small and delaying makes their plight worse,” he stated when he hosted a party for the cleaners in the constituency after which a statement was issued to the Ghana News Agency in Tema.
Mr. Ansah Opoku said the cleaners showed commitment and dedication to their work, although they face some difficult challenges, particularly regarding the amount of money paid to them.
“We owe a lot to these workers who keep our environments clean. When people visit our communities and praise us for our clean and beautiful environment, we must acknowledge that it is because of the efforts of these hardworking sanitation workers,” he stated.
He noted that “sanitation is important as it helps prevent some diseases and it is important to acknowledge the efforts of these workers.”
Mr. Ansah Opoku added that because the cleaners usually work early in the morning, their challenging work is not seen by many people in the communities.
The MP said the cleaners should be celebrated for their selflessness and dedication to duty and presented food items and some money to them as a token of appreciation for their challenging work in the constituency.
He assured them of his support and asked other organizations and individuals to support the cleaners.
Meanwhile, an official of YEA has explained that the payment of salaries of the workers is sometimes delayed due to the lack of funds and failure on the part of some sanitation workers to submit their monthly reports to the various Environmental Health Offices in their respective districts.
The official explained that it was difficult to validate workers, who failed to submit monthly reports on time, and gave the assurance that it would be cleared once funds were released for them to do so.
GNA