Gov’t ¢200m for Sanitation Not Ready

The Sanitation ministry is yet to receive the money that was allocated to the sector to help curb sanitation problems in the country.

With the albatross of waste management heavy on the neck of government, the President of the country, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo during his State of the Nation’s Address earlier this year, made a firm commitment to release a whooping GH¢200m to address the menace.

As to whether the funds have reached the sanitation sector or not, Mr. Joseph Kofi Ada who is the sector minister, said the money was yet to hit his accounts to enable his ministry execute the various projects to improve sanitation in the country.

“The government has approved money for us, budget-wise, it has not yet hit our account. We have a financial system that you have to process from expenditure initiation, through to approval process and getting it to go through the GIFMIS system.

“The money has been released, but it has not yet reached our account besides we have to go through the procurement process to be able to get the contractors to execute the job. We are still going through the process” he said

He made this revelation on the maiden edition of the current affairs show on CITI TV, yesterday.

President Akufo-Addo in 2017 pledged to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by 2020, but as it stand, this may just be a mirage.

The capital, Accra especially, has been swamped with waste and uncollected garbage with plastic waste at the epicentre.

Despite promises by various assemblies to improve the situation, the story remains the same.

By: Pamela A. Allotey