By Philip Tengzu
Lambussie, (UW/R), Sept. 11, GNA – The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), in partnership with the Savannah Alliance Ghana (SAG), are facilitating the enactment of a
sanitation by-law for the Lambussie and Nandom Districts to fight against negative sanitation practices.
Mr Kwasi Peprah Nyantakyi, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Advisor at SNV, said with this by-law being finalised and gazetted, there would be good backing for the assemblies for enforcement.
The by-law was also going to give a clear definition of the role of the various stakeholders and give backing to the sanitation officers to act, he said.
Mr Nyantakyi, at a private-sector stakeholder engagement on the sanitation by-laws, said the development of the by-laws formed part of the implementation of the Healthy Future for All (HF4A) project.
The SNV is implementing the HF4A project in the Nandom and Lambussie Districts in partnership with the SAG to increase access to improved WASH services through a behaviour change campaign and the provision of WASH infrastructure.
Mr Nyantakyi explained that the engagement, which was also held for the Nandom Municipality, was to solicit the inputs of the stakeholders, particularly the private sector WASH actors to ensure the provisions in the by-laws were not arbitrary and to protect the interest of the masses in those districts.
He said it was also to facilitate collaboration between the private sector, the traditional leaders, and the district assemblies in the implementation of the by-laws when finalised.
Mr Pius Doozie, the Communications Advisor for SAG, encouraged the workshop participants to serve as ambassadors of the WASH campaign by letting the public know the importance of good sanitation practices.
He said, “We should not let the law compel us to keep our environment clean, but we should take the initiative on our own to ensure the environment we live in is clean.”
He said SAG was a capacity development organisation that provided tailor-made capacity building for development-related agencies and operated in Northern Ghana, with a special interest in the WASH sector, food security, agriculture and livelihood improvement, education, and environmental conservation.
Kuoro Issaka Zeng-eh Kazie Tenjie II, the Paramount Chief of the Lambussie Traditional Area, said issues of sanitation were behavioural and should be tackled through a behaviour change approach not necessarily a legal approach.
He stressed the need for public education on the by-laws for the people to know the consequences and penalties therein of poor sanitation practices.
Kuoro Tenjie also emphasised the need for the stakeholders to also appeal to the conscience of the people alongside with the law, saying “If you want to follow only the law, then all of us here will go to prison.”
Mr Iddrisu Safianu, an Assistant Director at the Lambussie District Assembly, intimated that they were working to attain a district-wide Open Defecation Free (ODF) and commended the SNV and the SAG for their interventions and support in that regard.
He indicated that the support of the organisations in developing the by-laws was laudable since the Local Governance Act of 2016, (Act 936), required district assemblies to make by-laws that were appropriate for the district’s socio-economic development and promotion of peace.
He observed that most district assemblies had developed by-laws but could not gazette them due to the cumbersome and expensive process involved.
Presenting on the by-laws, Mr Matthew Apana, the Lambussie District Environmental Health Officer, said gazzetting the by-laws would enable the authorities punish sanitation offenders in the district including court prosecutions.
He explained that political interference in prosecuting sanitation offenders had been a major hurdle in the fight against sanitation-related offenses.
The by-laws covered indiscriminate waste disposal, open defecation, latrine construction, and institutional waste management and public places such as restaurants, market centres, and hotels among others.
Traditional leaders, Assembly Members, latrine artisans, and soap producers, among others, attended the engagement.
GNA