The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has begun the process of setting up a sanitation court in order to deal efficiently with sanitation-related offences.

Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), said the project was to help stem the growing impudence with which some residents recklessly breach sanitation by-laws.

Plans for the construction of the court, he said, were far advanced, saying some judges from the Metropolis had already been selected to undergo training in order to build their capacities for effective work when the Court becomes operational.

Mr. Assibey-Antwi was interacting with the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who is on a working visit to the Ashanti Region, to keep abreast of the sanitation situation.

She was accompanied by Mr. Michael Gyato, a Deputy Minister, as well as some Directors and Technical men of the Ministry.

The MCE said the Assembly since its inception of the ‘Sanitation Brigade’ had arrested more than 15 persons, accused of haphazard dumping of refuse and dust bin thefts.

Mr. Assibey-Antwi indicated that there was the need for the Ministry to assist the Assembly to acquire new trucks to replace the obsolete waste collection trucks.

He disclosed that since the introduction of the pay-as-you-dump policy, the Assembly had worked assiduously to streamline waste management in the Metropolis.

Ms. Dapaah said the level of every society’s response to sanitation-related issues determined how matured they were.

The Ministry would, therefore, not rest on its oars as it puts in place more pragmatic measures to dealing with sanitation challenges in the country.