Mr. Daniel Owusu Korkor, the Sunyani Municipal Environmental Health Officer (EHO), has said lack of political will by governments remain a major challenge in addressing the nation’s poor environmental sanitation.
He explained that successive governments had failed to demonstrate true commitment to confronting poor environmental challenges in the country, saying “they are rather interested in building their political parties”.
Mr. Korkor made the observation when he was speaking at a day’s stakeholder’s dialogue on sanitation in Sunyani, jointly organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL), a waste management and sanitation company.
On the theme “Keep Ghana Clean”, the dialogue attended by stakeholders from private and public institutions was in line with GCGL’s campaign strategy to create public awareness and education for improved sanitation in the country.
Mr. Korkor said unnecessary interferences from political leaders and key government officials was making enforcement of sanitation bye-laws difficult, saying until non-conformers of sanitation bye-laws were punished, people’s poor attitude and mind-set towards the environment could not be corrected.
He expressed regret about the difficulty in evacuating traders occupying unauthorised places, saying their activities created serious environmental nuisance and mess in cities due to interventions from political leaders and government officials.
On the COVID-19, Mr. Korkor express regret that the Sunyani Municipality had been hit by shortage of personal and protective equipment (PPE), a situation he added had made it impossible for health officials to bury about 20 COVID-19 dead bodies.
He said though 16 dead bodies had been buried in the Municipality, since January 2021, health officials required enough PPE, particularly the coverall and others to bury the remaining bodies.
Mr. Korkor expressed concern that successive governments continued to “starve” environmental health division of the Municipal/District Assemblies (MDAs), stressing that lack of logistics and vehicles for the divisions had remained a huge challenge for decades.
“How possible can we go round communities and neighbourhoods to promote environmental cleanliness if we don’t even have a vehicle? It is rather unfortunate and if the nation can solve her poor sanitation problem, then politicians must turn around and adequately resource the environmental health divisions of the MDAs,” he added.
Oboaman Bofotia Boamponsem II, the Kurontirehene of Sunyani Traditional Area, who presided, called for effective collaboration between the Sunyani Traditional Council and the Sunyani Municipal Assembly for enforcement of sanitation bye-laws.
“Politicians would always come and go because their powers are temporary. But, as chiefs and queens and the embodiment of the people, we are always there to support you to strictly enforce sanitation bye-laws, and effect attitudinal change in society,” he said.
Source: GNA
