A local governance expert, Issaka Amon Kotei, says its not feasible for President Akufo-Addo to accomplish his commitment of making the capital the cleanest city in Africa.
He claims it’ll be an arduous task to solve the problem of filth entirely without putting measures in place to tackle the fundamental issues.
“Some 1.5 million people are living in unplanned areas and there is no strategy by government to move them out from those places. The government has also succeeded in compounding the problem more in Accra by the creation of more municipalities without systemic planning. So the President’s commitment is a mirage and cannot be achieved.” Amon Kotei told host Akwasi Nsiah on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM Wednesday.
His comment comes on the heels of the Sanitation Minister, Cecelia Dapaah’s statement that Mr. Akufo-Addo’s promise has been amended and moved to the Second term of the NPP administration.
President Akufo-Addo has admitted more can be done in the fight against filth and making the capital the cleanest city in Africa as he promised.
This was acknowledged in his State of the Nation Address to Parliament last month.
Nonetheless he claimed there has been “a significant improvement in sanitation.”
“However, this is currently the state of play. We have witnessed an increase in the coverage of solid waste management, from 16.6% to 53%, and, over the course of last year, 35,862 household toilets were built, as opposed to 1,698 in 2016. We will intensify efforts at making Accra a clean city,” he told the parliamentarians.
According to President Akufo-Addo, this year apart from continuing with educating and sensitizing people, government intends to use the bye-laws to enforce cleanliness.
But Mr Amon Kotei said until we get the system fixed which seems to be broken, those enforcing the bye-laws will be tired at it.
“…We can deploy soldiers to compliment the sanitation task force but will not yield the desired expectation because the system is not functioning properly. What I’m saying is that we must get the system working then bye-laws and other things will follow,” he said.
Source: kasapafmonline.com
