Accra, Jan. 22, GNA - Government on Thursday announced that a National Sanitation Policy would become operational this year with emphasis on four main components.
These are: Inspection, Compliance Enforcement, Hygiene Education and Pest Control.
President John Agyekum Kufuor, who announced this in his Third State of the Nation Address to Parliament, said the policy would work through the decentralisation system.
He said to promote good governance; government appreciated the necessity for the devolution of power to the district assemblies as a necessary way of tackling some of the socio-economic problems of society.
To this end, President Kufuor said the Government would continue to ensure a balanced development of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly areas especially with reference of competent staffing and funding.
He said participation of civil society; traditional authority; nongovernmental organisations, (NGOs) and the private sector partnership in local governance would be encouraged.
President Kufuor said: "It is quite right that we set our standards very high; the filth in our towns and cities is unacceptable. We hope that the division of the big urban sprawls into sub-metros will make their administration more manageable."
He said no matter how much resource was put into the cleaning of the towns and cities, unless citizens changed their habits, the problems would not go away.
"We must take pride in our environment and more so in our towns and cities and this means we must stop littering and putting up illegal structures", he said.
On the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), President Kufuor expressed regret that the Bill did not get the support from both sides of the House and that organized labour had found it necessary to campaign against it.
He said now that the law had been passed: "I urge the entire country to come together to support it and make it a success. There has been enough argument. It is time to put the scheme into operation and put the nightmare of the Cash and Carry behind us."
President Kufuor reiterated his call that the funds to be taken from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) would not affect the pensions of contributors, each of whom would be paid his or her full entitlements as and when they became due.
"This is the best way to bring quality health care to all, rich and poor, employed and unemployed."
He said programmes of the newly established first Postgraduate College of Physicians and Surgeons had been structured to enable doctors to access the College even from their district hospitals while continuing their normal work.
"It must surely help to stem the tide of the exodus of doctors and other health personnel from the country", he said.
On the HIV/AIDS pandemic, President Kufuor appealed to Ghanaians to continue to show love and compassion to AIDS sufferers even as they endeavoured to protect themselves against it.