A Non-Governmental Organization known as Centre for National Development of Girl Education, Environment, Water, Agric and Sanitation (CENDEGWAS) Advocacy Foundation Ghana has joined Presidents Mahatma’s national campaign on sanitation.

The NGO, which is operating in the Upper East Region, as part of its activities, has earmarked the third week of every month to complement the efforts of the President’s Initiative.

Last month, the NGO linked up with Zoomlion and GYEEDA and other youth groups to undertake a clean-up exercise in the surroundings of Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region and this month repeated it in some parts of the Bolgatanga Municipality and its surroundings.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr Atompoya Joel Daniel, Director of CENDEGWAS, stated that his outfit decided to partner the President and the Government to confront the issue of sanitation because Government alone could not tackle the problem.

He said as part of CENDEGWAS activities, it was sensitizing and educating students in the various schools of the Districts in the Region to inculcate in them good sanitation practices and to also make them become the ambassadors of sanitation in their schools, homes and communities.

He expressed regret about the upsurge of open defecation in many communities in the Region and said many of the households in the area were built without toilet facilities, thus compelling people to resort to open defecation.

He blamed the problem on the Municipal and District Assemblies’ refusal to enforce Act 189 of the Sanitation Law, which stipulated that any person or body wishing to erect a building shall provide toilet facilities and failure to comply warrant prosecution.

Mr Anaaya Joseph Napoleon, the Secretary of CENDEGWAS , called on the Sanitation and Environmental Health Officers, Assembly members, Chiefs, Traditional leaders, Imams, Christians leaders, and Pastors, Educational Institutions, NGO, Government and the Civil Society Organizations to collaborate and work assiduously to end sanitation associated problems in Ghana.

He, therefore, appealed for support for the NGO to enable it to undertake more sanitation programmes.