By Samuel Dodoo
Accra, Nov. 23, GNA – The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) has reviewed the Water, Access, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities so far in Ghana at a two-day workshop in Accra.
It was to assess the performance of the Ministry and its collaborators in line with attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal Six by 2030.
The workshop brought together heads of department under the Ministry and key stakeholders in the WASH sector.
Dr Freda Akosua Prempeh, the sector minister, commended the various agencies and stakeholders in the sector for their hard work and cooperation which had brought strides towards water and sanitation delivery in Ghana.
She expressed worry that a lot of people died some few years back due to cholera outbreak which she described as a disgrace to Ghana because we failed to effectively and efficiently manage WASH activities.
“This illustration highlighted the sensitive nature of sanitation and hygiene in public health and cascade even issues of national security concern to approach of WASH with greater attention,” the Minister stated.
Dr Prempeh indicated that since the establishment of the Ministry, and critical investments in each of the thematic WASH areas, in urban water supply systems and access to safe drinking water resulting in the significant achievements in the sector.
She highlighted some of the major achievements and accomplishments of the Ministry, such as household and institutional toilet facilities, continued to be developed at areas which lack these amenities and resorted to the practice of open defecation.
“In the area of environmental sanitation, there has been development of a number of recycling and compost plants through closer collaboration with the private sector,” she emphasised.
Dr Prempeh said another key achievement was the investment in modern engineered land fill sites to support issues of waste management in the country, resilience in the area of flood management to avert disasters.
She said the Ministry had revised the National Water Policy with the support of the stakeholders and also commenced the revision of the Environmental Sanitation Policy to aid in education and enforcement.
“A recent review by the United Nations established that Ghana has done well in water with 88 per cent people accessing basic service, and 42 per cent also accessing safely managed which is higher than the Sub-Saharan average of 30 per cent,” she stated.
Dr Prempeh said; “Despite our achievements, there is still more work to be done, hence I find this performance review meeting on WASH extremely pertinent.”
She appealed to the stakeholders to share ideas and strategize to push towards attaining the targets through SDG-six, the African Union Vision 2063 and other commitments.
Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah Abrampa of the National Development Planning Commission urged the participants to use the review meeting to strategize on the way forward for the nation to make progress on the sanitation and water performance.
GNA