Dodowa (GAR), Aug. 23, GNA - Naa Lenason Demedeme, Director in-charge of Environmental Health and Sanitation at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment on Saturday said every individual in Ghana generates about half a kilogram of solid waste a day hence the need for people to pay for the waste they generated to ensure proper sanitation in the country

He explained that waste management was an expensive business which cost the country millions of cedis since about 70 percent of waste generated is unaccounted for.

"Multiply the 22 million Ghanaians by 0.5 kilogram and you have ideas how much waste is generated daily in Ghana and how much money government spends on managing the waste," he said.

Mr Demedeme was speaking at the opening on a workshop organized by Ghana Coalition of NGOs in the Water and Sanitation Sector (CONIWAS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment to educate media personnel on the need to advocate for an improved sanitation situation in the country.

He said a tonne of solid waste costs the country GH¢12 and pointed out that GHc12 multiplied by 22 million run into millions of cedis which could be used for other beneficial purposes if the country was able to manage her waste.

He said in a year Ghana spends about 720 million dollars on sanitation alone and pointed out that if efforts were not made Ghana could not achieve the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation. Mr Demedeme mentioned peoples' bad attitudes toward waste disposal as one of the biggest challenges in terms of getting an improved sanitation and said there was the need to revise the country's sanitation policy to achieve improved sanitation.

Mentioning other challenges faced by his department, he said, the sanitation sector was fragmented meaning that there were too many activities by different agencies which were not harmonized. He called on government to put together one legal document for sanitation to serve as a guide for all the sectors involved in the sanitation sector.

Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, a Communications Consultant and Educator who took members of the media through a presentation titled: "Ghana's Sanitation Crisis: Facts and Figures," said about 80 percent of Accra residents do not pay sanitation revenue and expressed concern about peoples attitude of not paying for the waste they generate.

Mr Patrick Apoya, Executive Secretary of CONIWAS, said the workshop would help bridge the gap between technical people and media personnel who do not understand issues on sanitation well.