By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Aug. 10, GNA – The World Vision Ghana (WVG), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has advocated strict enforcement of sanitation laws to help the country achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals Six (SDGs 6).
The UN global goals (6.2) enjoin countries around the globe to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations by 2030.
Mr. Yaw Attah Arhin, the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Technical Coordinator, WVG, said, just about six years to the goal, the nation had made significant successes in the provision of potable drinking water.
However; poor sanitation remained a daunting challenge in the country.
He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the first semi-final of the “Master Encounter-Northern Sector School Sanitation Solutions Challenge (Triple S) 2024″ held at Abesim near Sunyani.
Mr. Arhin indicated that strict enforcement of sanitation laws and bye-laws was required to change people’s poor attitude towards indiscriminate disposal of refuse, plastic and solid waste.
The enforcement of punishable sanitation laws would serve as deterrent and trigger attitudinal change for improved sanitation.
Mr Arhin also called on the government to prioritise and invest more into sanitation to improve waste collection and management.
At the end of the challenge, Northern and Eastern Regions qualify for the grand finale of the Sanitation Challenge, to be held Monday, September 23, 2024, at the National Theatre in Accra, as part of the Children Sanitation Fair.
The regions would be represented at the contest by Master Faraj Timtooni Abdul Yezid, a pupil of the Tamale-based Grace Holy Child Academy and Miss Christiana Sefakor Sedenkor of the Koforidua Presby “E” Basic School.
Yezid and Sedenkor were crowned as the winners of Shea and Cocoa Zones and they would compete with two others, who would be selected to represent the southern sector in the grand finale of the challenge.
The WVG, a non-government organisation in partnership with the Kings Hall Media Limited, the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and Zoomlion Foundation is organising the challenge, which seeks to encourage children to cultivate interest in issues of environmental sanitation.
This is to further motivate the children to become sanitation conscious and agents of change, building their capacity to co-create sustainable solutions to sanitation challenges around them, empowering them to influence policies, advocate the removal of barriers and promote improved access to basic education in the country.
GNA