The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has put a new legislation on national sanitation day exercise before cabinet for consideration before sending it to parliament to make it legal. If the new legislation is passed into law, citizens of Ghana who absent themselves from the exercise without any justifiable reason could be liable for prosecution.
The new legislation the ministry said would also punish people who practice Open Defecation and indiscriminate littering of the environment.
The move, the ministry said was occasioned by the dormant and outmoded by-laws and regulations governing environmental hygiene and sanitation in the assemblies.
The NSD for the third time recorded low turnouts in the northern region in spite of appeals by the northern regional minister, Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru Limuna for the residents to join the exercise. “you saw me sweeping and removing waste from gutters in Aboabu and some people were sitting down and did not even lift their fit; that’s how some people can be unconcern about their own health’’ the minister told the media.
The by-laws and regulations have been disregarded by many citizens in Ghana and have led to filthy nature of most major cities and towns in the country.
A deputy local government minister, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye disclosed this in Tamale during the media briefing ahead of the NSD scheduled on first Saturday of February which falls on the 7.
The briefing which was attended by MMDCEs in the region was to outline programs for the national sanitation day and share ideas on how to tackle the exercise come Saturday.
Until the supreme court of Ghana ruling on chieftaincy some decades ago, the chiefs were leading crusade of communal labour in the various communities in Ghana.
The ruling however eroded the chief’s powers, because the ruling said when someone is summoned before the palace, he or she can refuse to go without any problem.
In the view of Mr Lantey Vanderpuye, the review of chieftaincy law, the chiefs should be able to be give more autonomy so that they deal with recalcitrant’s who deliberately show no interest of protecting the environment.
The ministry said they expect the northern region’s turn of NSD to surpass the Ashante region’s one and that can only be realized if the media give it the attention it deserves.
Categories: