The Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources has expressed satisfaction with the progress of Zoomlion Ghana Limited's Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) in Yabram, Dambai, in the Oti Region. The committee, led by Chairman John Oti Bless, visited the facility as part of a three-day engagement with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Volta and Oti Regions from September 17 to 19, 2026. The committee was impressed with the level of work done on the facility, which is still undergoing development, including the completion of portions of its fencing.
Chairman Oti Bless urged the government and stakeholders to support initiatives like IRECOP to achieve a cleaner Ghana. He cited Rwanda as an example of a country that has made significant progress in sanitation by enforcing clear rules and regulations and increasing public compliance. According to him, one of Ghana's major sanitation challenges is indiscipline, particularly the indiscriminate disposal of waste. He stressed that Assemblies must begin to put bye-laws in place and implement and enforce them to address this issue.
The committee also commended private waste management service providers, including Zoomlion Ghana, for their contribution to sanitation efforts in the country. Chairman Oti Bless called for stronger collaboration between government, investors, and major sanitation service providers to expand recycling and other sustainable waste management initiatives. He noted that the committee's monitoring exercise would continue to other regions, including Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti, and Eastern Regions.
During the engagement with MMDAs in Ho, the committee discussed how the 10% sanitation allocation under the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) was being utilised. The discussion revealed that although the 10% was helping, it was not enough to meet the sanitation needs of the MMDAs in both regions. District Chief Executive of North Tongu, Victoria Amefadzi Doe Yawa, cited the lack of skip containers as a major challenge undermining effective waste collection in her district.
The engagement also highlighted the issue of low motivation for sanitation workers. Chairman Oti Bless described the monthly payment of GH¢300 to GH¢350 to sweepers in North Tongu as inadequate and urged assemblies to motivate their sanitation workers to give of their best. The representative of the DCE for Central Tongu, Caroline Sefanu Dogbornu, lamented that the absence of a permanent disposal site in the area was not helping their sanitation fight.
Chairman Oti Bless encouraged media organisations to use their platforms to educate the public on proper sanitation practices and the importance of maintaining clean communities. He warned that indiscriminate disposal of waste could eventually have negative consequences for the people themselves and stressed the need for Ghanaians to understand and adopt better sanitation practices.
The committee's visit to the Volta Region revealed that it was one of the cleaner regions visited so far. Chairman Oti Bless attributed this to the region's effective waste management practices and urged other regions to emulate them. The committee's monitoring exercise is expected to continue to other regions to assess their sanitation situations and provide guidance where necessary.
Key points
- The Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources has expressed satisfaction with the progress of Zoomlion Ghana Limited's Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant in the Oti region.
- The committee has urged the government and stakeholders to support initiatives like IRECOP to achieve a cleaner Ghana.
- The committee's monitoring exercise will continue to other regions to assess their sanitation situations and provide guidance where necessary.
