Awal Mohammed, the minister-nominee for Tourism, Culture and Arts has said that if approved by Parliament, he will ensure that defecation at the various beaches in the country is stopped.

According to him, it is impossible for the ministry to deal with the problem alone and will seek help from traditional rulers.

Answering a question during his vetting on how he intends to promote beach tourism, he explained that the first step will be to curb defecation at the beaches.

After solving the age-long problem, Awal Mohammed says the next plan will be to engage the private sector in creating entertainment at the beaches to attract revellers.

He added that the ministry will promote and generate interest in that aspect of tourism.

He however believes that this can only be possible with help from traditional rulers and other sectorial ministers.

“Ghana has about 540,000-kilometre coastline, we will not be able to effectively manage our coastlines ourselves. We have to involve the traditional rules to help keep the beaches clean.

“We have to incentivize them to ensure that the beaches are clean. Marketing and private sector involvement and publicity are very important for us. We must engage the Ministry of Sanitation to keep the beaches clean”, he said.