Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), is to train sanitation guards to assist environmental health officers to ensure sustainable management of issues concerning the environment and sanitation.
At a ceremony to outdoor the first batch of 60 recruits to begin training in Koforidua on Thursday, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the Eastern Regional Minister, said the establishment of the sanitation guards had become necessary as a result of the ever increasing deterioration of sanitation in the country.
He said the government under President John Atta Mills was aware that clean environment was a necessary condition for speedy economic growth and development hence on assumption of office he declared the first 100 days to clean the entire country of filth and ensure proper management of waste.
"This is because the huge pile of filth in our cities and towns are gradually becoming unbearable with its attendant health related problems, which put pressure on the few health facilities available in the communities."
Mr Ampofo said the challenge to Ghanaians on sanitation issues needed an attitudinal change based on socio-cultural environment in which one was brought up.
The minister said the government through its development partners in the sanitation sector was providing technical guidelines for the management of the programme.
He said the government would also develop appropriate guidance and suitable curriculum to ensure that proper training was given to the recruits to make them effective and efficient.
Mr S .A. Allotey, Programme Officer at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, said although the environmental health officers were doing their best to ensure a clean, safe, pleasant and physical environment, it was the responsibility of individuals and communities to take issues of sanitation serious.
Mr Ernest Kusi, Eastern Regional supervisor of Zoomlion, said the programme had been designed to give adequate training to the guards to enable them discharge their duties effectively and professionally, especially in the process of educating the people on the need to change their attitudes on sanitation.
He said the company would provide logistics for the training and urged the guards to take the training serious.
Mr Kusi said the company was committed to clean environment and would therefore do everything possible to ensure that all towns and villages would be cleared of filth.