I wasn't appointed to be a 'borla man' – Adda

Sanitation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda

Sanitation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda has told his critics that he was not appointed by President Nana Akufo-Addo to go about sweeping the streets and collecting public waste.

In his view, those clamouring for his dismissal do not understand the purpose for which his ministry was set up.

“…You send me to a new terrain, totally virgin area, a place like this that the president wants things done in a very deep-seated manner and you want that to be done tomorrow. You want the minister to go out tomorrow with a broom and a wheelbarrow to collect the waste; that’s not the minister’s job,” Mr Adda told Francis Abban on Accra-based Starr FM on Wednesday, 7 February.

“I think they [critics] have to understand that, and go back and understand: ‘What is the role of the ministry to start with and how should we collaborate with others?’ And I bet you by middle of this year, you’ll find a totally transformed sanitation sector in this country that will last the test of time,” he promised.

Assessing his performance in office over the past one year, Mr Adda said: “I’ve been effective as a minister responsible for policy and monitoring, for designing a system and structures that will bring about the fundamental transformation of the sector which is what we need in the first place.”

According to him, there are no quick-fixes when it comes to the sanitation sector, adding that he used the first year to put in place the basic structures and policies needed to ensure that Ghana becomes one of the cleanest countries in the world.

“The overnight solutions that people are looking for in the Sanitation Ministry, you’ll not get that today, tomorrow or so on and so forth; these fundamentals have to be set right and that’s what I’ve been most effective in getting set up properly.

“So, I cannot see more than the next three months or so, get all those things functioning very well and when they start functioning, it means that the system now is totally transformed and Ghana should be on the verge of becoming one of the cleanest countries in the world and Accra can be the cleanest city as well,” the former Navrongo Central MP said.