The government is set to officially launch the Nation­al Sanitation Day initiative under its ‘Clean Up Ghana’ agenda to help improve sanitation in the country.

The launch of the initiative would be done by President John Dramani Mahama at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) in Accra on Saturday.

The Minister of Local Govern­ment, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, announced this in Accra yesterday when he addressed the Great­er Accra Regional Members of Parliament and the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

The meeting was to solicit inputs from them on how they could col­lectively help in confronting poor sanitation in the country and the success of the initiative at large.

According to the Minister, the National Sanitation Day initiative, which was first launched in 2014, would be re-launched on three

objectives, namely, to restore discipline and pride in public spac­es, empower and mobilise local government structures, and foster citizen participation and account­ability.

Mr Ibrahim further bemoaned the impact of poor sanitation and waste management on the coun­try’s socio-economic growth and development of the country.

“From indiscriminate dumping of waste to choked drainage that contribute to perennial flooding to the unsightly hills of waste in our markets, city corners and streets; these challenges threaten not only our public health but our econom­ic growth and the very image of our nation,” he lamented.

In view of the challenges, Mr Ibrahim cautioned that the Nation­al Sanitation Day was not going to be “business as usual” and, therefore, urged all stakeholders to play their role in ensuring that sanitation and waste management in the country was improved.

He directed all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that hence­forth, all streets, public spaces, ceremonial streets, and visible nuisances within their jurisdiction were cleared by 8 a.m. each day.

According to Mr Ibrahim, the first six months of the re-launch of the initiative would serve as a performance benchmark during which MMDAs would be required to progressively shorten the timeframe for the removal of the nuisances.

Moreover, he asserted that MMDAs must prioritise among other things, the desilting of drains, removal of waste heaps, regular cleansing of ceremoni­al routes, markets, lorry parks, schools, public spaces, and the mobilisation and deployment of officials, including environmental health officers to ensure the sus­tainability of the initiative.

Mr Ibrahim opined that his Ministry would introduce account­ability measures, including the es­tablishment of a dedicated hotline for reporting, a central dashboard to track reports, responses, and performance of MMDAs, and the submission of a monthly report by MMDAs.

He called on government officials, including Members of Parliament, as well as the media, to use their influence to promote the initiative to help improve the sanitation and waste management systems in the country.