The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah has disclosed that her tour to the Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) has been very successful and rewarding. The Sector Minister said this when she spoke to the media after the last leg of her tour to Ga South, Ga Central and Weija Assemblies on Wednesday October 23, 2019. The tour which started on September 10, 2019 saw the Minister accompanied by a team of officials visiting almost all the Assemblies. Out of the twenty three Assemblies, the Sector Minister had paid visits to twenty two of the Assemblies which ended on Wednesday October 23, 2019 to Ga South, Ga Central and the Weija Assemblies.
Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah. Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources and officials on a GAMA tour
Objectives. The objectives of the tour to the Assemblies were to meet with the leadership of the Assemblies, have a quick scan of the selected communities and attend community durbars at the various places to interact with the people. The tour also afforded the Sector Minister the opportunity to have first-hand information about the sanitation situation and challenges at the various Assemblies and to find out how the Ministry can work collectively with the Assemblies to address the challenges. The Sanitation Minister also inspected the various GAMA projects; completed or ongoing at the various Assemblies.
The tour came at the background of the declaration of the President H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his term.
During the tour, it was quite revealing to see most of the communities clean, especially Kpone Katamanso and the Madina areas. The Sector Minister was impressed and congratulated the leadership of the Assemblies for a good work done. She however, urged them not to rest on their oars but to endeavor to sustain it.
Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah’s interaction with the market women especially was very fruitful. She admonished them to keep their foodstuff clean and tidy up their environment because poor sanitation at the market places has direct implication on the health of the people, which will also affect the nation’s productivity.
This has been the first major tour of the sector Minster within the GAMA.
One critical issue which came up for the attention of the Minister was the need by the Assemblies to enforce the bye-laws on Sanitation to make the President’s vision attainable. One other issue of critical attention which came up during the tour was the poor standard of the slaughter house at Jamestown where the Minister called for major clean-up. She also called on the butchers to avoid the use of old lorry tyres to burn the animals because of the health risks the practice poses to the consuming public. Another important outcome of the tour by the Sector Minister was the honour conferred on the National Chief Imam as the Chief Patron for the sanitation campaign.
The Minister was accompanied on the tours by the Deputy Minister Hon. Patrick Boamah (MP), Hon. Michael Gyato (MP), the Chief Director of the Ministry Mr. Noah Tumfo, Directors and other officials from the Ministry and the Agencies.
Activities in Pictures
Compiled by
Nelson Akatey
PR Unit