Shifting sanitation management responsibilities directly to the MMDAs will rather worsen the situation at hand -- YEA manager to government. 

Shifting sanitation management responsibilities directly to the MMDAs will rather worsen the situation at hand -- YEA manager to government. 

Sanitation issues have been on the agenda since the early 1990s when donor support for urban waste management started.

Ghana has always faced challenges with waste management since its declaration of independence and establishing its local governments.

The issue of unsightly public areas with piled up waste and drains brought about negative environmental and public health related issues.

This led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and later waste management departments in the local government structure to see to the management of waste that results from daily activities of Ghanaians.

The difficulties in prioritisation led to the inability of these departments to effectively meet waste management targets, hence the private sector was called upon in the 1990s to handle about 80 per cent of the work, based on the World Bank’s recommendation.

The National Youth Employment Programme now Youth Employment Agency was formed in 2006 to help address the issue of unemployment among the youth and through this initiative the youth in Sanitation module was formed among several other modules to fully be in-charge of addressing issue of poor sanitation and unemployment among the youth. 

This initiative just came at the right time when global unemployment among the youth was on the rise.

But now, the government has officially discontinued the Youth Employment Agency (formerly NYEA) sanitation contract with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, shifting sanitation management responsibilities directly to the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), aiming to improve remuneration for sweepers by removing the third-party middleman. 

Meaning the MMDAs will fully and solely be the primary government body in charge in maintaining the beneficiary database, oversee recruitment, process allowances, assigning beneficiaries to work in specific districts and also enforcing local sanitation bylaws to sustain sanitation in the Country.

Due to this recent changes, Mr.Oscar Kennedy Nyarko who is the boss of the Youth Employment Agency in the Berim South District and also the dean of Youth Organizers in the Eastern Region has charged the Mahama led NDC government to revert the decision to ensure public health practices and facilities that ensure safe and proper management of waste and general cleanliness.

Speaking to the media on the recent decision by the Ghanaian government, the in-coming eastern regional Organizer stated how dangerous it is to hand over such a sensitive module to the Local assembly due to it multiparty nature. 

"It is very disgusting and dangerous to hand over such a sensitive module to the MMDAs which contain different political colours and likely to sabotage the ruling government" Mr. Oscar alleged. 

The in-coming eastern regional Organizer later pleaded with all die-hard NDC supporters and Ghanaian citizens to stand up again this decision which he think will go a long way to worsen the situation at hand.

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Evans Kweku Oboafi Junior HARDROCK