Participants in the 2022 MOLE Water, Sanitation, an Hygiene (WASH) Conference have urged the government of Ghana to expedite action on setting up the promised National Sanitation Authority (NSA) and Sanitation Fund to drive the country’s Sanitation agenda.
In a communiqué at the end of the five-day MOLE XXXIII Conference, organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), and other partners said the NSA backed by a sanitation fund would boost Ghana’s desires to have universal access to sanitation services.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Joint Monitoring Platform of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), scored sanitation in Ghana at 25 percent as of 2021.
“The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources should expedite action towards establishing the NSA and the National Sanitation Fund,” urged the seven-point communiqué.
The participants added that other innovative financing models, including revolving funds, should also be explored to offer low-interest loans to support poor households to construct household sanitation facilities.
The communiqué disclosed that CONIWAS, the umbrella body of all civil society organizations (CSOs) in the sector, had pledged to continue lobbying on the NSA and submit a report about it during the next MOLE conference.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had pledged in November 2017 to establish the National Sanitation Authority and the Sanitation Fund to back his government’s commitment to making Accra the cleanest African city.
The theme of the MOLE conference was “Ghana’s Commitment To Water, Sanitation And Hygiene(WASH): Connecting Systems To Bridge Service Delivery Gaps.”
Besides the government of Ghana and the local CSOs, institutions such as the World Bank, UNICEF, WHO, and international charities, such as WaterAid, and World Vision International, participated and made presentations at the conference towards bridging the gap in access to WASH services in Ghana.
Yaw Attah Arhin, Chairman of CONIWAS, expressed gratitude to the government of Ghana and other stakeholders for their continued support for the MOLE conference.
“The low access to sanitation in households, schools, and other public places is unacceptable in this 21st Century,” Arhin said, urging a collective approach to dealing with the issue.
