Mr. Issahaku Chinnie Amidu, Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, has stated that the government was poised to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target on Sanitation and Water by 2030.
He announced that the government intended to roll out the “one toilet, one household” project across other jurisdictions based on the successes chalked in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) and Kumasi Metropolitan Area (KMA).
According to the Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala East, the introduction of “one toilet, one household” project had reduced the menace of open defecation in Accra and Kumasi Metropolitan areas.
Delivering a keynote address at the observation of the annual World Toilet Day 2022 last Friday at Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, which event focused on the impact of the sanitation crisis on groundwater, the Minister said the main objective of the day was to raise awareness for action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve SDG Goal 6: “Sanitation and Water for all by 2030”.
Mr. Amidu disclosed that, sanitation was important for dignity, comfort, privacy, security, social acceptance, economy, environment and national development.
According to him, economic returns on sanitation were highly favourable, and that investing in sanitation could help Ghana tackle its basic economic challenges, as well as improvement in healthcare.
The Minister said the availability of school toilets and water facilities for proper hand washing and other uses could improve school enrolment, attendance and completion, and could increase female participation in decision-making, thereby increase productivity at the workplace, as water and sanitation promote social development and economic growth.
The Sissala East Lawmaker indicated that to be able to harness the full benefits of sanitation, there was the need to stop open defecation now, as a result of which the Ministry has rolled out a number of interventions to address the challenges.
He mentioned the Community Led Total Sanitation, which approach had been implemented for some time now and yielding a lot of good dividends, as a key approach in ensuring that people stopped open defecation and build and use household toilets.
Minister Amidu stressed the need to strengthen the supply side of the laudable approach, through sustainable sanitation financing options, as well as providing the needed technical support for householders.
Ing. Harold Aseku, Lead Partners representative of the World Bank and Kumasi Metropolitan Area Project, announced that the project has failed in the area of sanitation, but had achieved the SDG target in Water Hygiene and Sanitation.
As a development partner, the Lead Partner representative pledged for support to the Ghana government with various projects.
He noted that, as development partners, they would do everything possible to support the Ghana government with various projects to benefit many more people through the assembly members.
Ing. Aseku mentioned that the partners would adopt efforts in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector to help the government to achieve the SDG target on Water and Sanitation, through the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and help end open defecation.
