By Benjamin Mensah
Accra, May 21, GNA – Mr Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, has identified community mobilisation, and not always contracts, as key to the realisation of community projects.
He said in the event where funds were not readily available, community leaders and politicians could mobilise the people and other resources for such projects, to reduce cost, and avoid undue delays in their execution.
“Let’s not always award contracts; community mobilisation is key to communal projects,” Mr Chinnia said, and cited some projects he had accomplished in the Sissala East Constituency through community engagements rather than contracts.
Mr Chinnia, also the Member of Parliament for Sissala East, said it was time communities and leaders acted swiftly on development projects, especially those in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, he called on the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to play their supervisory roles effectively in the implementation of WASH projects.
The interview followed the second multi-stakeholder dialogue on WASH, dubbed: “Executive Breakfast Conversation.”
The conversation was on the theme: “Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and Sustainable WASH Service Delivery,” with the sub theme “Every Child Deserves Clean Water and Improved Sanitation.”
It was organised by the Ghana Chapter of World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian organisation, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, and the United States Agency for International Development among other partners.
Three billion people worldwide, including hundreds of millions of school-going children, do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap.
People living in rural areas, urban slums, disaster-prone areas, and low-income countries are the most vulnerable and the most affected.
Worldwide, 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than half of the global population does not have access to safe sanitation.
The Deputy Minister expressed regret that many schools and healthcare facilities lacked access to basic WASH services.
He stressed a holistic approach to health and well-being by ensuring the availability of safe and sustainable WASH services in critical institutions and among vulnerable groups.
He called for strong leadership and effective collaboration among stakeholders in providing water, hygiene and sanitation facilities in local communities.
” Nice houses, no WASH facilities. They collect rent but provide no toilet. Why can’t you punish that one landlord or landlady?”
“If you talk, they say they’ll vote against you. We must look at the byelaws and how we implement them,” he said.
“From now on, any school facility we are developing must have WASH facilities to ensure access to safe and sustainable WASH services in schools.”
He announced that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources had already consulted with the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Ghana Education Trust Fund to ensure that all contracts for new school facilities considered the need for safe WASH facilities.
The Government was also holding discussions with the World Bank, the Ministry of Education, and the Ghana Education Service, to develop sustainable management guidelines for the WASH facilities in schools.
“It’s not just about constructing them because if we construct these WASH facilities and we do not find sustainable ways of managing them, they will collapse within a short period,” Mr Chinnia said.
GNA