The Minority in Parliament has blamed the outbreak of cholera in seven out of the ten regions of Ghana on lack of commitment on the part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to enforce strict sanitation measures.
“It is sad to state that solid waste has piled up at all refuse disposal points in all the cities and urbanities because the NDC government has been defaulting in the release of Common Fund to the various MMDAs,” the Minority said at a press conference on Thursday, September 11.
The Minority observed that funds for the first and second quarters have been in arrears.
As a matter of urgency, the Minority asserts, government must release the funds “to enable [MMDAs] to deal with their normal operations which include refuse collection and disposal”.
The mostly New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) re-echoed campaign promises of the NDC in 2008 and 2012 to rid the country of filth, which has been a major source of the pandemic.
“It is important to remind President John Dramani Mahama’s NDC government that in their 2008 manifesto they boldly declared that within their first one hundred days in office, they would ‘take bold and comprehensive measures to deal with appalling filth in our communities, and the related health problems of our people caused by inadequate, inappropriate and ineffective waste management systems and practices.’”
The current outbreak of cholera since July has led to the loss of over 100 lives in over 12,000 recorded cases. Greater Accra Region has been the hardest hit with President Mahama last week joining the people in the Odododiodio Constituency on a clean-up exercise.
The Minority claims that inasmuch as the problem calls for national solution, government should provide the “necessary logistics” for traditional actors in the industry.
“It should be a strategic imperative of government to combat the cholera menace in order to liberate the people to contribute their quota to national development.”
