Ho, July 20, GNA - Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has called on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the private sector to play a leading role in water and sanitation management while government played the facilitating role.

He announced that his ministry had forwarded a draft policy on environment to Cabinet, which aims at comprehensively addressing all issues in the sanitation sector especially waste management. Mr Yileh Chireh said CSOs and non governmental organizations must pay more attention to sanitation saying "Sanitation issues never get sufficient attention. We need to place it high on the agenda." The minister made the call at a closing ceremony of a conference dubbed "Mole XX", an event organised by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) to share knowledge, information and dialogue on the sector.

The conference also served as a platform for CSOs to meet with stakeholders in government to share ideas on how to improve the sector. This year's conference was on the theme: "Twenty Years of Multi-stakeholder Dialogue in Ghana: The State of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene."

Mr Yileh Chireh said: "At 52 years, we are unable to provide basic environmental services," and added that almost half of the population was without access to both liquid and solid waste services. He noted that sanitation is an important driver to the health, economic and social development of any nation.

A communiqu=E9 issued at the end of the conference called for the development of appropriate policies that would encourage people to use water efficiently. It indicated that this would be done through effective communication strategies to influence behavioural change. The communiqu=E9 also urged the Ghana Water Company Limited and Aqua Vitens Rands Limited to ensure customer satisfaction by making their services reliable and affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian. It also called on government and development partners to increase investment in urban water supply.