The Minority in Parliament is calling for the establishment of a dedicated sanitation fund to provide sustainable financing for waste management and sanitation services across the country.

Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, Ralph Poku-Adusei, said inadequate funding at the local government level was undermining efforts to address Ghana’s sanitation challenges.

Speaking to JoyNews’ Stephen Mensah, he questioned how some municipalities could effectively keep their communities clean with limited sanitation personnel.

“You have a municipality with eight sweepers. A municipality with eight sweepers. What can they sweep or where can they cover?”

Mr Poku-Adusei also raised concerns about the absence of permanent contracts with waste management companies in some districts and municipalities.

He said the lack of sustained arrangements was affecting the ability of local authorities to maintain consistent waste collection and sanitation services.

“You heard that there are no permanent contracts with waste management companies to be able to deal with waste and sanitation issues in their districts and municipalities.”

According to him, Ghana should be moving beyond simply collecting and disposing of waste to developing systems that can process waste and turn it into useful resources.

“As a country, we should be at a position whereby this time we are into waste processing.”

He cited the use of technologies such as biogas to generate electricity from waste in some countries, arguing that Ghana’s continued challenges with waste collection, landfill management and open defecation show that the country has yet to reach that stage.

“And if we are now dealing with collecting of the waste, then now looking at issues with landfill, open defecation, then I will say no to your question. We are not where we are supposed to be as a country.”

His comments come as the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources assesses waste management facilities and processes across the country.

The Minority believes a dedicated sanitation fund could provide more predictable financing for waste collection, processing and other sanitation services, particularly at the district and municipal levels.

It says stronger and more sustainable financing is needed if Ghana is to move from basic waste collection towards modern waste processing and resource recovery systems.