He noted that this would help deal with sanitation offenders in a bid to enhance waste management.

He pointed out that due to the high number of criminal cases at the courts, much attention was not being paid to sanitation related cases.

Mr Agbavitor said this in his presentation at a Private Sector Engagement Forum in Kasoa in the Central Region.

The event, was hosted by Intervention Forum (IF) under the Voice 4 Change Programme (V4CP) of the SNV Nertherlands Development Organisation.

The aim of the project is to strengthen the capacities of local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to generate reliable and relevant data / evidence to carry out evidence –based advocacy for sustainable improvements in key focus areas namely; renewable energy, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and improved policy implementation at the municipal level.

The forum therefore, provided opportunity for discussions on the current sanitation situation within the Municipality and critical areas, where private sector participation and support was required.

Mr Agbavitor said among the current interventions to address issues were the 2018 gazetted ASEMA bye-law, which increased the minimum fine rate from GHC 480 to GHC 1,200 and maximum GHC3,000.

He said environmental health officers were intensifying on hygiene education in an effort to urge individual households to construct household latrine in their premises.

On the part of enabling support system by the Assembly for increased private sector role in Sanitation and Hygiene, he said currently there were eight- waste management companies that were privately collecting and disposing waste in ASEMA.

Mr Agbavitor stated that ASEMA's new bye-law also had provisions for people and agencies to give loans to the individuals to construct latrines in their houses.

Madam Nora Ollennu, Chief Executive Officer of IF, noted that since the era of the Millennium Development Goals, the private sector were expected to play a critical role in addressing sanitation challenges.

She said nonetheless, its participation in the delivery of WASH services were limited so far, especially in low-income areas, that was a major bane to the achievement of key development targets at various levels.

The V4CP is a five-year advocacy programme being funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and implemented by SNV in partnership with the International Food and Research Institute (IFPRI) IN Ghana and across several other developing countries.

The project is targeting an array of actors including; ASEMA, Traditional Authorities, Waste Management Companies, Microfinance institutions and Banks, Community-Based Organisations, Communities, Assembly Members, Media; all relevant actors whose involvement were key to the realisation of the project objectives.

IF is one of the four local implementing partner Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the WASH component and was tasked to implement the project in ASEMA.

The Organisation has worked, over a decade, to improve the circumstances of deprived rural communities by assisting them through capacity strengthening to identify and help solve their own problems and enhance their quality of life.