The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Ocloo, has rallied all stakeholders within the region to work together to help implement a robust sanitation policy to rid the city of filth and promote a healthy environment.
Speaking at her maiden meeting with management, departmental heads and staff of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC), the Regional Minister said the capacity of waste management units at MMDAs would be strengthened to perform their roles effectively as part of the comprehensive sanitation policy.
Ms Ocloo noted that government planned to reintroduce the National Sanitation Day (NSD), which would require all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to hold clean-up exercises on the last Friday of every month.
The Shai Osudoku Member of Parliament (MP) also stressed that the policy would make issues of sanitation part of the key performance indicators (KPIs) of all the 29 metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the region.
At the meeting, the minister gave a firm assurance that improved sanitation and waste management would be one of the key issues on the reset agenda of the government and this she noted would promote environmental cleanliness.
She said apart from the reintroduction of the national sanitation Day, efforts would be made to promote environmental cleanliness by prioritising regional sanitation awards amongst all the twenty-nine(29) Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the region.
Adding that achieving this goal would require a collective effort by all stakeholders, faith-based organisations and development partners, to promote the government’s reset agenda.
“I cannot succeed without you, and I urge you to work closely with me so that we can achieve greatness together,” she said.
The Regional Minster, Hon. Lydia Ocloo said she was going to work closely with the security agencies and the MMDAs to instil discipline on the roads by ensuring that those who took over pedestrian walkways were engaged and subsequently removed to cease traffic.
She said efforts would also be made to remove petty traders from footbridges and enforce the usage of those facilities.