Source: Today
Zoom Alliance, a subsidiary of Zoomlion Ghana Ltd., in collaboration with the Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly will soon introduce a community sanitation police and monitoring taskforce to help curb poor sanitation in the country.
Senior Operations and Technical Manager at Zoom Alliance, Kenneth Asare, disclosed this at a drainage-desilting and clean-up exercise at Achimota-Kopervie drains in Accra, recently.
“We are introducing monitors and police so that after we have cleaned and left, the area will be monitored and policed so that people do not dump indiscriminately,” he stressed.
The ministry of local government and rural development in partnership with the Zoomlion Group and the local authorities has launched a national programme aimed at desilting the various drains in the country ahead of the rains this year.
The move, according to Kenneth Asare, is aimed at ensuring that flooding and issues of malaria and cholera outbreaks during rainy seasons are eliminated.
“The Chairman of the Zoom Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, is totally committed to this project and has pledged his utmost support,” explained Mr. Asare.
He noted that the rains are coming and therefore it was imperative to ensure that drains are desilted, filth cleared and a permanent taskforce instituted to ensure that people are disciplined towards sanitation.
Mr. Asare added that with the institution of the taskforce, anyone who flouts the AMA by-laws on sanitation will be prosecuted at the sanitation court without any hesitations.
He stressed that sanitation and environmental cleanliness is a shared responsibility and requires the support of government and the general public.
“The communities have a role to play, we have a role to play, we will do our part, but if the community doesn’t plays its role there’s no way we can sustain this programme,” he indicated.
The community sanitation police and monitoring taskforce is the second phase of the national sanitation taskforce launched in December 2012 and will be spearheaded by Zoom Alliance with support from Zoomlion Ghana Ltd.
The taskforce will have an implementation committee with representation from all security agencies including the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO,) environmental health officers and the regional coordinating council.
Operations Manager at Zoom Alliance, Johannes Obeng Danso, explained that communal containers will be placed at vantage points for residents with inaccessible routes to their homes to dump in for a fee.
He also said the Polluter Pay principle where each house pays for every tonne of refuse it generates will be effectively implemented with the help of the city authorities.
“We are embarking on series of intensive public education so that people understand the need to keep our environment clean,” he said.
In the coming weeks Zoom Alliance will be using excavators to desilt various drains to ensure a flood-free rainy season.
Acting Communications Manager of Zoomlion, Mr. Robert Coleman, said regardless of the number of personnel and equipment Zoom Alliance deploys if the citizenry do not change their attitudes “we will not be able to make any significant progress to enhance sanitation in the country.”
He therefore advised the various MMDAs to enforce their by-laws and prosecute sanitation offenders to serve as a deterrent to others.
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