The Parliamentary Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources has called for increased and sustainable funding for sanitation, saying the 10 per cent allocation from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), while supporting important interventions, is not enough to address the country’s sanitation challenges.
The Committee expressed satisfaction with the use of the allocation by several assemblies in the Volta and Oti regions, citing investments in institutional toilets, boreholes, drainage works, desilting and other sanitation-related projects.
The assessment formed part of the Committee’s second-phase accountability engagement with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), aimed at examining how the statutory allocation is accessed and utilised, the interventions being undertaken and the challenges affecting implementation.
The Committee engaged 18 MMDAs in the Volta Region on Friday, September 18, 2026, before receiving presentations from nine districts in the Oti Region on Saturday, September 19.
The assemblies presented accounts of their 2025 and 2026 DACF allocations and receipts, sanitation interventions and challenges encountered in accessing and utilising the funds.
Speaking in an interview after the second day’s engagements, Member of Parliament for Salaga South and Committee member, Ibrahimah Mohammed Zuwera, said the presentations showed that the 10 per cent allocation was supporting practical interventions in local communities.
She said the Committee had seen evidence of investments in institutional toilets, mechanised and hand-pump boreholes, desilting, drainage works and other sanitation-related activities across the two regions.
According to her, the experience had reinforced the need for a dedicated and sustainable sanitation financing mechanism, particularly given the results being achieved through the existing allocation.
“Today, we’ve had an opportunity to work with the nine districts in the Oti Region and I think out of the nine, eight have been stellar,” she said, commending the assemblies for their accomplishments, quality of work and commitment to addressing sanitation challenges.
Ms Zuwera, however, said the Committee had raised concerns about the presentation from the Nkwanta North District Assembly and would require it to appear for further engagement in Accra to clarify issues identified during the assessment.
She stressed that the exercise was not simply to establish whether assemblies had spent their allocations, but also to determine whether the funds were being used for their intended purposes and whether the interventions were delivering results in communities.
The Committee also sought to establish the actual status of DACF releases, cautioning assemblies against attributing implementation challenges to the non-release of funds when the allocations had already been transferred.
Ms Zuwera said the two quarterly allocations for 2026 had been paid and assemblies were therefore expected to provide accurate information on their funds and expenditure.
“Public funds are public funds. They are not funds for personal use,” she said, adding that the Committee would continue to encourage MMDAs to ensure that public resources translated into tangible benefits for residents.
Assemblies outline sanitation interventions, challenges
The Committee’s assessment was reflected in the experience of the Krachi East Municipal Assembly, where Municipal Chief Executive Sarfo Nketia said the assembly had used its sanitation allocation to undertake desilting, drain construction, dislodging of sanitation facilities and site clearance.
Mr Nketia said the municipality was facing growing pressure on its sanitation and other public facilities due to an influx of people, partly linked to instability and conflicts in surrounding communities.
He said the population increase was putting pressure on existing facilities and raising the municipality’s expenditure requirements.
Access to potable water remained one of the municipality’s major challenges, he said, despite the presence of the large lake that supports economic activity in the area.
Mr Nketia proposed a mini-water system to complement existing borehole interventions and improve access to potable water.
He also commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for supporting waste lifting and clean-up exercises in the municipality, including providing additional assistance during national sanitation exercises.
In the Kadjebi District, District Chief Executive Dr Sam Suraj Isaka said the assembly had adopted a collaborative approach involving market women and transport operators to improve sanitation at key facilities.
He said the approach had encouraged stakeholders to contribute towards paying workers engaged to clean the facilities.
Dr Isaka said the district had also invested in water infrastructure, including eight mechanised boreholes, with another five under construction. The assembly had also repaired about 23 boreholes and provided hand pumps to communities.
He put the district’s water coverage at about 88 per cent but said sanitation remained a challenge due to littering and difficulties in changing public behaviour.
The assembly was therefore intensifying public education on waste reduction, reuse and segregation, while encouraging residents to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics.
Dr Isaka added that the district’s sanitation by-laws had been gazetted, paving the way for stronger enforcement against sanitation offenders.
He said the assembly would initially engage households and communities through education before fully enforcing the by-laws, with the aim of improving public health and environmental cleanliness.
Committee pushes for dedicated sanitation funding
The two-day engagement reinforced the Committee’s call for a dedicated national sanitation fund.
Ms Zuwera said the results presented by the MMDAs demonstrated that additional resources could enable assemblies to expand sanitation interventions, provided the funds were properly targeted and accounted for.
She said the Committee would continue its field engagements and follow up on issues requiring clarification before compiling its findings and recommendations.
The exercise is expected to provide the Committee with a clearer picture of how the 10 per cent DACF sanitation allocation is accessed and utilised, the effectiveness of projects funded through it, and the financial and operational challenges affecting sanitation delivery across the country.
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