Parliamentary Select Committee on Water, Sanitation calls for well resourced MMDAs
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Water and Sanitation, John Bless Oti, has given the assurance that the Committee will engage the relevant authorities to ensure that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies are well-resourced to enable them to function efficiently.
He said Assemblies at the grassroots level were development agents and must be supported by all stakeholders to execute the mandate expected of them, adding that this was why the Committee continued to push for more resources towards water and sanitation issues for the Assemblies.
He gave an assurance when members of the Committee visited the Tarkwa-Nsuaem and the Prestea-Huni-Valley Municipal Assemblies in the Western Region last Monday.
The visit was part of efforts to identify major challenges facing the Assemblies and how to improve the situation.
The team also toured the Bonsa Water Intake, where the River Bonsa has been heavily polluted, with aquatic life almost non-existent.
Reasons for visit
Mr Oti said the visit was part of broader efforts to find out whether Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company and a service provider, which has a contract with the MMDAs, was really living up to expectations.
“We are also here to get first-hand information on the challenges you are facing so that we can include them in our report to Parliament,” he added.
He commended the two Municipal Chief Executives (MCEs) for working closely to develop their communities.
Mr Oti urged the Assemblies to prosecute assembly members who manage toilet facilities and fail to account for their stewardship.
The MCEs for Tarkwa-Nsuaem and Prestea-Huni Valley, Ebenezer Cobbinah and Mathew Ayeh, respectively, variously complained of Zoomlion’s inability to evacuate refuse at the designated dump sites, forcing the Assemblies to use various resources out of the District Assemblies Common Fund to fund the evacuation of refuse.
They, therefore, appealed to the committee to serve as a continuous advocate for the Assemblies.
