The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, yesterday launched the National Sanitation Day (NSD) in Accra, with a call on metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs), to prosecute people who would flout sanitation bye-laws.
He said the maintenance of a clean environment for which reason the NSD had been launched, would be thwarted, if people were allowed to litter and defaecate in open places with impunity.
Initiated by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the NSD would be observed every first Saturday of the month across the country.
The NSD seeks to encourage the public to take greater responsibility for improving their environment and ensure that laws promoting good sanitation are respected.
In line with the objective, the theme for the launch of the NSD was “Environmental Sanitation, a Shared Responsibility.”
Vice-President Amissah-Arthur expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of many Ghanaians towards sanitation, noting, for instance, that many people indiscriminately disposed of refuse while others defaecated at the beaches and other open places.
Mr Amissah-Arthur said Ghana risked not achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MEAD) targets on sanitation.
He, therefore, charged regional ministers and MMDCEs to lead the campaign to change the attitude of the public towards maintaining a clean environment.
The Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, said the Ministry of Health would embrace sanitation as an integral component of its functions.”
The Chairman of the National Peace Council, Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Asante, who spoke on behalf of the Christian Council of Ghana (GCG), said spirituality went beyond going to church, and indicated that it included keeping a clean environment.
The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, in a speech read on his behalf, said cleanliness was an integral part of the Islamic religion.
The Okyenhene, Amoatia Ofori-Opanin II, who chaired the function, asked that landlords who did not provide toilet facilities for tenants must be prosecuted.
