The Minister for Inner-City and Zongo Development Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has mounted a spirited defense for the president Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to establish the tailor-made Zongo Ministry for bringing developments to the Zongos and inner-city areas of the country.

According to the Minister, if the Zongo Ministry survives another two years, it will be able to wipe out all the teething problems in the inner-city areas of the country.

Dr. Hamid made this spirited defense of the fledgling Zongo Ministry at the launch of the first phase of the construction of household toilets for 52 households in James Town and Chorkor areas to benefit one thousand and three hundred inner-city dwellers in the Greater Accra Region in partnerships with Ga Mashie Development Agency (GAMADA) and Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project.

He minces no words to say this Ministry has been in existence for only two years and three months and has been able to achieve a lot stemming from the developmental stage of the Ministry by the former Minister, Alhaji Boniface.

He said in spite of the fact the Ministry is too young to wipe out all challenges in the Zongo and inner-city areas of the country, it has been able to chalk sterling successes since its establishment as a Ministry.

He added that Ghana since independence has had Ministries for Health, Education, Work and Housing, Roads and Highways, Local Government among others yet the country continue to experience challenges in all these sectors of the economy.

'‘All these Ministries have been existence since independence except the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection which was established by ex-president John Agyekum Kufour in the year 2001.

Yet, the problems of Roads, Health, Housing and Education infrastructure continue to confront us in the face years after independence’' he stressed.

So, how can a Ministry that is barely two years old resolve all the problems in the Zongo and inner-city areas of the country? He questioned.

But, if you look at what the Ministry has been able to achieve in two years, I can assure you that if the Ministry survives the next 63 years it will be able to make a change in the development history of inner-city areas across the country he added.

He said the Ministry is here to create a society of opportunities for everybody irrespective of where they live in the society.

This is the main purpose of the creation of the Ministry because the people who live in these areas are also Ghanaians he posited.

‘The provision of toilets in other societies are taken for granted but it is a nightmare in the Zongos and inner-city areas of the country he explained.

He added that the provision of household toilets in the inner-city areas is non-negotiable as the Ministry plans to roll out phase one to four until all households in the inner-city areas have household toilets.

‘So, by the time we are done every household in the inner-city areas of the Greater Accra Region will have a household bio-digestible toilets.

He was hopeful the project will help bring an end to Open Defecation in many of these areas in the region.