The Member of Parliament for Achiase and Ranking Member of the Sanitation Committee, Kofi Ahenkorah Marfo, has expressed disappointment in the government’s handling of Sanitation issues in the country.
Speaking to Alfa Ali on the Orange Sunrise this morning, the member of parliament acknowledged that sanitation issues in Ghana were partly due to people’s poor attitudes, but he emphasised that enforcing sanitation policies was solely the government’s responsibility. He added that Ghanaians were disappointed in the government over the current sanitation crisis.
“If people feel that our attitudes don’t help in respect to our sanitation issues, yes, I agree, but who is supposed to cure that problem? It is not the ordinary Ghanaian. Because laws are made and enforcement of our laws is largely given to the government of the day”, Mr Ahenkorah said.
He explained that the government allocated 10 per cent of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies’ common funds specifically to sanitation but failed to call people to account.
“If you have a district assembly or a metropolitan assembly, and you give them 10% of your common fund to work on sanitation, and it is not going well, what do you have to do? So yes, an attitudinal problem is there, but that must not be used as a basis to justify flooding”, he stressed.
Honourable Ahenekorah pointed out that the government had secured about US$ 350 million in funding in June 2025 to implement the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, which is a World Bank-funded initiative designed to mitigate severe flooding, improve solid waste management, and upgrade infrastructure in vulnerable, low-income communities across the Greater Accra Region.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance did not issue the commencement authorisation early enough for the Ministry of Works and Housing to commence work.
“In June 2025, a commencement authorisation was sent from the Ministry of Works and Housing to the Ministry of Finance for the commencement of the GARID project. For almost eleven months, they did not attend to it, and the money was sitting at the Ministry of Finance”
He added that the Sanitation Committee had engaged the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Nyarko Apem, on the delays in the release of funds for the GARID project and was not provided with clear answers.
According to him, the current government has not shown commitment to resolving the longstanding sanitation issues in Ghana. He referred to the directive of President John Dramani Mahama to dedicate Friday, 10th July and Saturday, 11th July, as sanitation days as an ad hoc solution and called for a more systemic approach to solving sanitation issues.
“When you know that by May/June we are going to record heavy rainfall, and you delay commencement authorisation, and when you finish, you say you are dedicating Friday and Saturday to communal labour, what do you mean? Sanitation issues must not be seen as a one-day affair; it must be seen as a daily activity”, Honourable Anhenkorah stressed
Speaking on the involvement of private waste collectors in the Ashanti Region, the Achiase MP noted that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure the effective operationalisation of the Oti Landfill site to enable private operators to run smoothly.
Kofi Ahenkorah added that waste collection should not be left to private operators; rather, he recommended that the government provide needed logistics to help the various districts take charge of waste collection, transportation and disposal.
The member of parliament called for the establishment of a new landfill site in the Ashanti Region in the shortest possible time, adding that sanitation ought to be approached systematically and holistically.
