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The government will issue new sanitation directives and guidelines in the course of the first quarter of the year to significantly improve public health, environmental safety and sanitation standards in the country.
This follows Cabinet approval of the sanitation guidelines for implementation by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.
Under the new directives, metropolitan municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) would recruit sanitation guards to monitor, enforce cleanliness and ensure compliance with sanitation laws.
The sector Minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, disclosed this when he joined the chiefs and people of Sunyani to observe the Bono Regional version of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise in Sunyani last Saturday.
Dignitaries who joined the exercise included the Bono Regional Minister, Joseph Addae Akwaboa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sunyani East, Seid Mubarak, the Bono Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, security agencies and traders.
The participants gathered at the Sunyani Main Station as early as 6:30 a.m. for the exercise.
Shops were closed while other trading activities were halted along the principal streets of Sunyani.
The streets were swept, unauthorised posters were removed, choked gutters were cleared, and after which personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) used their fire engine to clear the remaining debris in the gutters.
Mr Ibrahim explained that he was in the Cabinet meeting when those approvals were given, indicating that he would communicate to the public on the new directives and guidelines.
"I don't want to be pre-empting, the Cabinet secretary will write to me that these were the decisions taken before I can officially meet and engage the public on the directives.
"I will come out with a proper directive so long as sanitation issues are concerned," the minister said.
Mr Ibrahim, who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Banda, urged the public to be responsible for cleaning their frontiers and households.
He hinted that under the new directives, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) would recruit sanitation guards to monitor, enforce cleanliness and ensure compliance with sanitation laws.
Mr Ibrahim added that a sanitation court would be established to prosecute sanitation offenders, adding that the assemblies' environmental officers would be empowered to enhance their operations.
"If it happens that those laws are breached, then the perpetrators will be booked to face the consequences of the law," he said.
He explained that the directives would be backed by the ministry and would be implemented by the assemblies.
Mr Ibrahim urged the assemblies and opinion leaders to take ownership of cities and their cleanliness.
On the exercise, he said he was highly impressed with the turnout.
Mr Ibrahim explained that if the enthusiasm continued like that, "Sunyani will once again become the cleanest city".
He explained: "The beauty of the city does not only lie in the aesthetic infrastructure, but also in the clean environment.”
Mr Ibrahim urged the Forest Commission to plant trees in all buffer areas to restore the greener nature of the city.
He explained that there used to be trees within the city, saying, "All those trees have been uprooted.”
Mr Ibrahim urged residents in Sunyani to leverage the National Tree Planting Day initiative to plant trees in the buffers.
"Even if it takes the whole people in Sunyani to plant 10 trees in the buffers a day, it's better than saying we've planted one million trees, but in the end there will be no trees anywhere to be seen," he stated.
The Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Vincent Antwi Agyei, said the assembly had many bye-laws to safeguard sanitation, but admitted that over the years, the assembly had relaxed in their enforcement.
He gave an assurance that from this year, the assembly would enforce its bye-laws to improve sanitation in the municipality.
Mr Agyei said the assembly had begun the process to procure metallic dustbins to affix on the streets to reduce the littering of the city.
He said the assembly had scheduled a meeting to come up with a new strategy on how to address sanitation issues.
