UDS Harmattan School worried about poor sanitation

Participants at the just-ended UDS Harmattan School, have expressed concern about the current insanitary situation in the country, and called for attitudinal change and institutional reforms to address the problem.

In a communiqué made available to the GNA in Tamale, they urged individuals, households, communities, local government authorities, traditional rulers and civil society organisations to recommit themselves to fighting poor sanitation practices and behaviours across the country.

The UDS Harmattan School is organised every year by the Institute of Continuing Education and Interdisciplinary Research to discuss issues of national interest and suggest ways of solving them. 

The six-point communiqué called for a clinical enforcement of sanitation laws, backed by genuine political commitment, institutional strengthening and sanctioning of people for insanitary practices, as the only means of addressing the problem.

It recommended, among other things, that prosecutions and spot fines be paid to the local authorities rather than to central government.

The communiqué said Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDCAs) must acquire permanent waste disposal sites for the purpose of incinerating, engineered land filling and composting, and that innovative technologies be adopted for managing solid and liquid waste.

GNA