The Accra Compost and Recycling plant is working again. It’s paid through the Common fund once they make a request to the Ministry. As you know, Common Fund payments are delayed more often than not. This has to be addressed and we should look into it in our future campaigns.

The Ministry has identified land near Kpone for new landfill sites. The real issue though with landfills is that the sites are not properly managed by the assemblies. This is another area for us to mount pressure.

It is unacceptable that Accra does not have an engineered landfill site even when the World Bank has offered to fund one. Apparently the reason it never happened was because “there was but there was no available land in Kwabenya”, where the project was planned to be sited.

Land is always an issue and it’s not going to get any easier. Given the poor management of landfill sites, is it any wonder that those who provide the land tend to regret it, feeling instead that they have created a terrible nuisance for the community?

I understand the Dutch government has also offered funding for an engineered landfill site with recycling capability.

Slamson Ltd is fortunately back to life. It is my understanding that they will be receiving a loan from the Danish government to add on more digesters and thereby increase their capacity.

We have focused on Lavender Hill in Accra because of the scale of what’s happening – 150 trucks a day emptying untreated fecal matter into the Atlantic Ocean. The truth though (as Emmanuel pointed out) is that all along the coast the assemblies dump raw fecal waste into the sea.

I understand the Ministry of Local Government is in discussion with the Ministry of Finance about the provision of decentralized liquid waste treatment facilities along the coast. This will be based on a PPP arrangement for two reasons – access to funds and because the assemblies clearly are in no position to manage these things. Private sector involvement is more likely to yield results.

I’ve also been tracking the Mudor Plant. It is still being rehabilitated. The waterborne sewage from the central sewage system still goes through Mudor without treatment. When will Mudor be complete?

Then there is the Legon sewage treatment plant – it’s been completed but is serving legon campus only when it should cover IPS, Madina and its environs. It consisted of the treatment plant and pumping stations to bring sewage from the nearby areas. They’ve finished the pumping stations as well so it should be providing for beyond a Legon. It’s an African Development Bank project with phase one complete. When is phase 2 scheduled for? It’s the second phase that will connect IPS, Adenta and other nearby areas.

The Nungua farms treatment facility is being used but just go see how the whole place is being built up and you will see why so soon the residents will begin to complain about its presence. We need alternative facilities in place should that become a problem.

I discovered that some of the liquid waste goes to the Kpone ponds which are there to take the leakage from the landfill.

I also discovered that the Tema central sewage system which is supposed to go to a treatment facility is now being discharged directly into the sea because the treatment facility is broken down.

We have much to do to give momentum to the National sanitation campaign. Things to be done in the short term, others medium term and the long term.

I think we have been quite successful with the short term effort of sensitizing people to issues of sanitation. The National Sanitation Day is situated in this short term context – sensitization climaxed with clean ups every month.

The Ministry’s plans for medium and long term consist of the following:

Provision of household latrines – ensuring that more and more houses have them. Here we have failed to meet the MDG targets.

In my view our next effort in the Fixing The Urban Mess campaign should focus on raising awareness about the importance of latrines in one’s home and in public places.

The Ministry is currently encouraging households to access micro finance for this purpose and it is also looking at the putting up of public facilities, all aimed at minimizing open defecation.

To conclude, it seems to me that even though there has not been a remarkable change in the status quo, there has been some improvement. Everyone I have spoken to has described the campaign as very timely because the situation was truly getting out of hand.

Together, we can Fix The Urban Mess. Thank you for the opportunity to be involved in such a crucial national development effort.