He said government was committed to bring governance to the doorsteps of the people and would focus on effective and efficient decentralisation through greater grass root participation, better planning and improved service delivery in local communities.

“The fundamental requirement for sustainable requirement for sustainable development is good governance.” Mr Ashitey made this observation on Tuesday when he paid a working visit to the Ga South and Central Municipal Assemblies to interact and acquaint himself with their operations.

“I am here to acquaint myself with your operations and to know from you what challenges you have if there are any, so that together we can fashion out the way forward in addressing those challenges.” He said it was important to recognise that our richness, diversity of our talents, capacities and resources when harness, would lead to the creation of new wealth and improve the overall well-being of our people.

Mr Ashitey said as assemblies they must strive to build a region devoid of political, ethnic, and religious affiliations, and be able to put the past behind and seek to pursue an agenda that would address the challenges confronting the region and nation so as to collectively build a just, fair and prosperous society where there is an equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities for all in the Region.

He noted that, the issue of waste management and sanitation in general were part of the government’s top priorities considering the challenge faced as a region. This, he said was  in the bid to transform the cities in conformity to global standards and best practices in terms of access to water, waste management, spatial development, infrastructural management, sewage dislodgement and treatment in a more scientific way that would make our cities re silent.

“As urbanisation continues to take place, the management of solid waste has become a major public health and environmental concern in our urban areas.   “The concern is serious, particularly in the capital cities, like most assemblies in the region. The health implications of the phenomenon of urban waste and filth are unthinkable as we all know.”

He said it was the fundamental duty of every government to ensure that its citizens live in clean and unpolluted environment. Besides, access to sanitation services is essential for human dignity and for economic development.

It is government’s priority and policy to ensure that sanitation services of acceptable quality are available to satisfy the socio- economic needs of individuals in the country at each point in time.       The Regional Minister urged the assemblies to take issues of Staff Training and Refresher Courses seriously so as to build the capacity of their Staff to be able to deliver on their mandate efficiently and effectively.

“This remains the surest way by which you can bring to bear on our day to day activities new and innovative ideas and approaches that can address the many technical, socio-economic and political challenges that confront us in the performance of your duties as professionals.”

He urged them to try as much as possible to invoke the portions of their bye-laws as local authorities to deal with those who flout the bye-laws on sanitation with impunity. He said they must ensure that the necessary financial and material resources that would come to the Assemblies would be used judiciously for the benefit of the people and not for individual pockets.