The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) is to reintroduce sanitation inspectors into the system to reenforce the objectives of the National Sanitation Day (NSD) campaign.

The sanitation inspectors, popularly known as “nsama sama’, used to move from house to house to ensure that people kept their homes and environments clean and they had powers to sanction people for not keeping their surroundings clean.

Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, announced this on a NSD campaign tour of the Eastern Region and stated that, the Government had already set aside funds for the processes leading to the re-introduction the sanitation inspectorate.

The Minister, who was addressing some traditional councils in the Eastern Region, including the New Juaben, Yilo and Manya Krobo, Fanteakwa and Akwamu on separate visits, said Ghana’s sanitation situation was very poor and the Government was determined to improve upon it.

Consequently, he said, the NSD was instituted to ensure that the culture of hygiene and cleanliness being advocated was maintained.

The Minster recalled that years back when sanitation inspectors were in full swing, the culture of hygiene and cleanliness was very high, noting that, “people even ensured that their drinking pots were cleaned and covered’.

He told the chiefs that the Government recognized their power in mobilizing their people to communal work and, therefore, the visit was to motivate them to take the lead in the fifth edition of the National Sanitation campaign being hosted by the Eastern Region.

The Paramount Chief of the Akwamu Traditional Area, Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, lauded the NSD and assured the Minister of the full support of the traditional authorities in the area in the exercise.

He, however, urged the Ministry to look at the implementation of some policies geared towards the protection of the environment and mentioned the indiscriminate construction of buildings even in water ways that caused flooding and other unpleasant consequences to people.

Nana Afrakoma, Queen mother of the area, said the traditional area had instituted every Thursday for environmental cleaning by all women in the town and expressed the hope that the NSD would complement the effort and ensure that all other areas paid attention to cleanliness of their environment.