Communities must own National Sanitation Day- ESPA
The Executive Secretary of the Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA), Ms Ama Ofori Antwi, has urged the government to deepen the involvement of communities in the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise in order to ensure its sustainability.
Advertisement
On Saturday, March 5, this year, the third NSD for 2016 would be observed, but the ESPA had noted with concern the apathy with which some residents related to the exercise.
According to Ms Antwi, some members of communities in which the exercises took place, usually looked on and did not participate, as government officials and waste management companies cleared filth, often disposed indiscriminately by members of those communities.
“The attitude of residents is not healthy and undermines the sustainability of the NSD. If we are able to get residents involved in the clean-up, they will be mindful of disposing refuse indiscriminately”, she stated.
Last month in Accra, the NSD was observed at Accra New Town, during which personnel from Zoomlion deployed equipment and manpower to desilt drains and clear the rubbish.
Shop owners
Ms Antwi however, noted that while the clean-up was still ongoing, many shop owners had opened contrary to earlier government directive to all shop owners to close their shops till noon that day.
The ESPA is the umbrella body of all waste management companies in the country, and its members with support from metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) take part in the monthly exercise.
The NSD started on November 1, 2014 and has since been observed on every first Saturday of the month as a national exercise aimed at inculcating in the citizens the observance of good sanitation habits.
