A three-day training workshop for newly recruited sanitation guards in the Western Region opened at Sekondi on Thursday. It is being organized by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited. Opening the workshop, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, the Regional Minister, said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would support any programme aimed at improving sanitation in the districts. He said sanitation is important, that is why it has become a Presidential agenda and is enshrined in the manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Mr Aidoo said sanitation borders on the health and well-being of the people. He said the objectives of the sanitation guards’ programme are to improve sanitation in communities and help bring change in hygiene behaviour, attitudes and practices among the population. Mr Aidoo said other objectives of the programme are to increase coverage of environmental sanitation services and offer the youth the opportunity to be trained as professional staff for the Environmental Health Services. He said the programme is also to sustain the National Health Insurance Scheme, which could be seriously undermined by poor sanitation. Mr Aidoo said two years into the implementation of the concept, some challenges have occurred and these have necessitated some structural changes to address them, and to ensure the effective and sustainable management of the concept. He said Zoomlion has taken up the payment of salaries of the guards to address the problem of long delays in payment of salaries and it would also provide logistics such as uniforms and bicycles. Mr Samuel Akwei Allotey, Programme Officer at the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the MLGRD, announced that the Environmental Sanitation Policy has been revised and it is awaiting cabinet approval. He said the policy has outlined various actions and challenges including capacity development, legislation and regulation, levels of service and information, education and communication. Mr Allotey said in addition, the MLGRD is developing strategies and action plans for the effective implementation of these policy actions. He said some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies have developed their Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plans. Mr Allotey said this would lead to the development of a National Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plans and culminate into the development of an Environmental Sanitation Strategic Investment Plan for sustainable financing of sanitation. He urged the sanitation guards to assist to revive the enthusiasm of the people for clean-up exercises and suggested that people who refused who refused to participate in clean-up exercises should be prosecuted as it was done some years ago. Mr Allotey charged Environmental Health Officers and Sanitation Guards to intensify public education on sanitation and ensure the enforcement of compliance with National Sanitation laws and byelaws of the assemblies. He asked Environmental Health Officers to draw up pragmatic plans and programmes to help solve sanitation problems in their areas and to use the Sanitation Guards for the purpose for which they have been engaged. Mr Allotey appealed to traditional authorities and landowners to release lands to the assemblies for the development of final waste disposal sites. Mr Felix Boankrah, Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion Ghana Limited said the company has engaged a total of 900 workers under the sanitation module of the National Youth Employment Programme in the region. He said the company is expecting to engage 1,000 additional workers in the region this year. Source: GNA