Politics of Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Source: adomonline.com
National Women’s Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Otiko Afisah Djabah has charged the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to invest in the youth of the country rather than hiding behind a national sanitation programme.
Ms. Djabah argues that the introduction of a National Sanitation Day is not a bad idea, but the ‘huge’ sums being pumped into the monthly event should rather be used to create more job opportunities so as to cut unemployment in the country.
“In any event, there would be no need for a national sanitation day if government had paid the District Assembly Common Fund that has a component for sanitation, to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the country,” she said.
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has set aside the first Saturday of every month to clean the environment, but according to recent reports, residents in some communities have developed apathy and indifference towards the exercise.
Prior to the January edition of the Day in the Ashanti Region, Regional Police Commander DCOP Kofi Boakye had called for the closing down of businesses on the day.
But Otiko Djabah argues that the institution of a national sanitation day is a non-starter. Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem on Monday, January 5, 2015, she noted:
“If you want to tackle sanitation issues, give district assemblies money to help the youth to get involved in various activities which will fetch them money. Former President Jerry John Rawlings jumped into gutters, nothing has changed.
“We must appoint people to work on the sanitation issues and hold them responsible when things do not go the right way. Let’s create a Ghana, that we would be proud of and not this trivial issue. I think this initiative will not solve the sanitation problem in the country. Days of jumping into gutters must stop,” she indicated.