Politics killing National Sanitation Day — Coleman
The Communications Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Robert Coleman, has advised the public to desist from politicising the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise.
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He said attempts to politicise the exercise were gradually causing the exercise to pale into insignificance and eventually have the essence of the novelty designed to rekindle the communal spirit and a sense of patriotism among the citizenry come to nought.
“We are gradually losing the vision and mission of the exercise because of politics. Let us rather use the platform to unite for a common goal rather than divide us on the basis of political colours,” he said.
Mr Coleman was sharing his views about the national exercise since it was instituted by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in October 2014.
He expressed worry about the e attitude of residents of areas where the exercise had taken place so far, especially when they folded their arms and mocked at the participants
NSD
Since its inception, the exercise has been religiously held every month with a focus on regional capitals.
Prior to the exercise, the staff of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, led by the Minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda, undertook a sensitisation tour to raise awareness of the exercise.
After a year of such tours, the sensitisation activity and exercise were left in the hands of Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) to sustain the exercise.
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However, the momentum seems to be waning as there is little or no participation during the monthly exercise.
In some areas, residents say they had forgotten about the exercise and attribute it to the low level of senitisation.
Others are also of the view that the clean-up exercise was rather meant for the sanitation agencies, since they pay taxes for that purpose.
Another problem that has cropped up is the refusal of people to participate in the exercise if they percieve the assembly member or the Member of Parliament (MP) of the area where the exercise is being conducted to belong to an opposing political party.
Give it legal backing
Mr Coleman said it was, however, time for the government to help achieve the objective of the exercise by giving it a legal backing.
For instance, he said, in neighbouring Nigeria, the last Saturday of every month had been designated as sanitation day.
That, he said, meant that all commercial activities in the country were halted and movement restrained until 10 a.m. Families, he said, were also told to use the confined time to tidy their houses.
“If it is working in Nigeria, why won't it work in Ghana?” he asked.
He also underscored the need for all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to enforce their various sanitation by-laws and institute sanitation courts to prosecute all those who flout those laws.
Mr Coleman also called on the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, under whose tenure at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development the NSD was instituted, to consider the issue of sanitation when