By Juliet Akosua Danquah
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources has reiterated the call for the establishment of a dedicated national sanitation fund to provide sustainable financing for the country’s sanitation needs.
The call was made by the Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee and Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Mr Ralph Opoku-Adusei, during an accountability engagement with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and officials on Friday, September 18, 2026, in the Volta Region.
The engagement formed part of the Committee’s monitoring exercise to assess how assemblies were utilising statutory allocations from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) designated for sanitation and water resources, and to determine whether the funds were delivering the intended results.
Mr Opoku-Adusei said the Committee had observed that while the assemblies were making efforts to address sanitation challenges, they faced a common difficulty with their control over some expenditures. He cited payments under the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), which, according to the assemblies, were tied to central government agreements and were therefore beyond their direct control.
“Most of the payments they claim are sanctioned by central government agreements, and they are unable to control those expenditures,” he said, noting that the issue had emerged repeatedly during the Committee’s engagements with the assemblies.
The Deputy Ranking Member also questioned the effectiveness of routine National Sanitation Day clean-up exercises, cautioning that such activities should not become an end in themselves without evidence of sustained improvements in sanitation.
He said clean-up exercises should instead respond to the specific needs of individual municipalities and districts and should be reviewed where they failed to produce the desired results. According to him, the focus should be on measurable and lasting improvements rather than simply maintaining a routine of periodic clean-ups.
Mr Opoku-Adusei, however, acknowledged that the allocation of funds specifically for sanitation had enabled some assemblies to take greater responsibility for addressing sanitation challenges within their jurisdictions. He said the Committee would continue its engagements with additional assemblies before making a comprehensive assessment of the information gathered.
He said the broader challenge remained the absence of a dedicated and sustainable financing mechanism for sanitation. He therefore urged the government to consider legislation or other appropriate measures to establish a national sanitation fund rather than relying on fragmented allocations from existing sources.
“The main problem is the lack of dedicated funding to deal with sanitation in this country,” Mr Opoku-Adusei said, stressing that continued reliance on percentages allocated from different funding streams would not provide the resources required to make meaningful progress.
He said the findings from the accountability exercise would help the Committee assess the utilisation of sanitation and water-related funds and make appropriate recommendations to Parliament, as part of efforts to strengthen accountability, improve local financial control and achieve more sustainable sanitation outcomes.
