Former President, John Dramani Mahama has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, indicating his plans to abolish it upon assuming office.
Mahama expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of sanitation in Ghana, suggesting that the country appears dirtier now than before the establishment of the Sanitation Ministry, which was previously under the Local Government Ministry.
In an address to students at the Wisconsin International University College in Accra on Wednesday, April 03, 2024, Mahama outlined his reasons for intending to shut down the ministry.
“We will close down the Ministry of Sanitation, one to reduce expenditure and two, I don’t see any use. Our country is dirtier than when there was no Ministry of Sanitation. Indeed, this country was cleaner when our country was under local government than as a standalone ministry and so we’ll close down that ministry and we’ll take the sanitation schedule back to local government,” he noted.
“With cleanliness, we think that it’s the duty of the district assemblies. Every assembly has an obligation to make sure that its district is clean and so we must decentralise sanitation to the district level,” he added.
Mahama emphasized the need to decentralize sanitation management to district assemblies, arguing that cleanliness should be the responsibility of local authorities.
Furthermore, Mahama disclosed his plans to merge the Transport and Aviation ministries, as well as the Information and Communication ministries, as part of efforts to streamline government expenditure.
He also indicated that the appointment of District Chief Executives (DCEs) would be contingent upon the cleanliness of their respective districts.
Mahama concluded by stating, “Because we want to reduce government expenditure, it’s not only the Sanitation Ministry, in transport, Aviation and Railway, we are going to close them down and send them to the transport ministry. We are going to combine Information and Communications again, and so we want to reduce the number of ministries,” he stated.
“So when we are going to change district chief executives and you have a dirty district, we’ll remove you and bring someone who can make sure that the district is clean,” he added.