Six months after the introduction of the national sanitation programme, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Ministry says attitude of Ghanaians to good hygiene is yet to change.

National Sanitation Day, initiated in November last year, is held on the first Saturday of every month and intended to deal with the country’s embarrassingly poor sanitation situation.

The programme also aims to inculcate a habit of cleanliness in the citizenry, and encourage Ghanaians to clean up their communities.

However, six months into the programme, deputy local government minister, Emmanuel Agyekum is worried not much has changed in the attitude of Ghanaians to keeping the environment.

Mr Agyekum told JoyNews that the sanitation programme was “going on well” and that the “patronage was very good”.

However, he said, attitudes towards cleanliness are yet to change.

He decried the littering behaviour which, apparently, has become second nature to some Ghanaians.

Even the very people who join in the exercise, Mr Agyekum bemoaned, tend to drop empty water satches in the very spots they’ve already cleaned up. This indicates that they do not truly understand the purpose of the exercise.

“If we give them water to drink, as soon as they finish drinking the water, they will leave it there.”

“They don’t see the need….why they should not litter”, he said, adding that “we have to look at a way to enforce and educate people when it comes to littering”.

Mr. Agyekum also revealed that the ministry is looking at ways to deal permanently with the outbreak of cholera in the country.

One of those steps are being taken the distribution of waste containers in the cities. According to him, the ministry has distributed about 10,000 waste bins in all ten regions and that soon, permanent waste bins will be installed in townships.