Source: newsthemegh.com
Sanitation guards have been placed all around the country by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to prevent and stop the careless disposal of trash and plastic waste.
The “uniformed” sanitation guards are currently dispersed throughout a number of significant cities and urban areas, including Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, and Tamale.
According to Dr. Freda Prempeh, the Sector Minister, anyone caught littering or tossing plastic debris and polythene bags would be required to pick them up, pay a spot fee, or risk prosecution. After viewing construction work being done to remove 10 trash dumps from certain localities in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region, the Minister was speaking with the media.
The Ministry is removing the garbage dumps that have been in the communities over the years in coordination with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a private trash management and sanitation company.
In order to better serve the community, it had already cleared out several trash dumps in Terchire, Nsesreso, Jerusalem, and Bourkrurkiwa close to Duayaw-Nkwanta, the municipal capital, and built some restrooms in some of the underserved areas.
Dr. Prempeh, who is also a member of parliament for Tano North, stated that the Ministry was working with important institutions and key stakeholders to draft a law that would support and sustain the national initiative, which aimed to promote environmental cleanliness and prevent communicable disease outbreaks.
She expressed concern at certain Ghanaians’ callous disregard for environmental protection and hoped that the effort will not only keep the environment clean but also alter some individuals’ callous disregard for proper sanitation procedures.
She urged homeowners to stop storing plastic and other waste items together because the Ministry was working hard to separate and recycle waste for other uses.
In order to redirect the enormous sums of money the government spent on waste management towards other development endeavors, she urged the people to work with the Ministry and assist the effort to accomplish desired results.
Poor sanitation practices continue to be a major issue in the nation, which needs to be addressed promptly and aggressively, according to Mr. Sampson Akwettey, the Ministry’s Acting Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation.
He claimed that unsanitary conditions were to blame for the spread of contagious illnesses like cholera and typhoid and warned the populace against careless garbage disposal.
According to Mr. Edward Ziddah, Zoomlion’s Ahafo Regional Coordinator, the company is removing 33 garbage dumps throughout the area.
Mrs. Clara Adu Sarpong, a local and influential figure in Nsesreso, thanked the Ministry for removing the trash heaps.
She previously claimed that because of the insects, malaria was a widespread disease and that the garbage dump acted as a breeding ground for snakes and rodents.