Mahama Reveals Plans to Dissolve Ministry of Sanitation

The flag bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to dissolve the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and integrate it into the Ministry of Local Government.

John Mahama cited President Akufo-Addo’s goal of ‘making Accra the cleanest city in Africa’ as a failed endeavor, despite the establishment of a dedicated ministry to achieve this objective.

Addressing students of the Wisconsin International University College in Accra on Wednesday, April 03, 2024, Mahama expressed that the capital city appears to be dirtier than it was before the establishment of the Sanitation ministry. He argued that there is no justification for maintaining a ministry that only drains the state coffers.

“We will close down the Ministry of Sanitation, one to reduce expenditure and two, I don’t see any use. Our country is dirtier than when there was no Ministry of Sanitation. Indeed, this country was cleaner when our country was under local government than as a standalone ministry and so we’ll close down that ministry and we’ll take the sanitation schedule back to local government,” he noted.

Mahama also emphasized that sanitation was originally the responsibility of the district assemblies and indicated his intention to restore this arrangement.

“With cleanliness, we think that it’s the duty of the district assemblies. Every assembly has an obligation to make sure that its district is clean and so we must decentralise sanitation to the district level,” he said.

John Mahama conveyed his plans to merge the Transport and Aviation ministries, as well as Information and Communication. He also revealed his intention to appoint District Chief Executives (DCEs) based on the cleanliness of their respective districts.

“Because we want to reduce government expenditure, it’s not only the Sanitation Ministry, in transport, Aviation and Railway, we are going to close them down and send them to the transport ministry. We are going to combine Information and Communications again, and so we want to reduce the number of ministries.”

“So when we are going to change district chief executives and you have a dirty district, we’ll remove you and bring someone who can make sure that the district is clean,” he added.