The Chairperson for the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) has called for the establishment of the National Sanitation Authority (NSA) to drive the sector towards realising its mandate.

Atta Arhin said the Sanitation Ministry does not have any operational structure to implement policies from the Metropolitan Municipal Development Authority (MMDA).

He, therefore, justified the need to set up the NSA to strengthen the institutional arrangement.

Mr Arhin added that if the Authority is not established, the Sanitation Ministry “itself will develop the policy and take the policy themselves and seek to be implementing them. That is not the way to go.”

He noted that for the Ministry to realise its objectives and strengthen its sector players, Cecilia Dapaah, the Sanitation Minister-designate is obliged to effectively engage the sector players.

“We have sector players who have a lot of capacity and yet we have not being effectively engaged to deliver on the mandate of the Ministry. And I think that is where we need to check but when it comes to the fight against Sanitation if you ask me we are nowhere near realising our objectives,” he stressed.

Mr Arhin further commended the Sanitation Ministry for its effective involvement with private sectors on public education and bin distribution in the President's bid to make Accra one of the cleanest city in Ghana.

“If you look at the recycling facilities that the ministry went into partnership with Zoomlion I think that is commendable,” he said.