Minister Scores Two Goals For Ghana

EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE

Ghana’s Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, yesterday received thunderous applause and cheers, when he displayed his football skills in Accra.

The Minister, who said he had not played football in a long while, shot twice on target to score two goals for WASH-United, to officially launch the club at a brief ceremony, which attracted some stakeholders of the club.

Hon. Alban Bagbin’s football display at the launch at the British Council hall dubbed World Toilet Cup, was his symbolic kicking of a football into two holes in a goal post, to drive home the need for everyone to ensure that every excreta is made to drop in a hole, i.e. practice good sanitation.

He was later presented with a souvenir, made up of a miniature goal post with a player and football to remind him of his commitment to the club, while he pledged to captain the team to chalk successes.

WASH-United is the acronym for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene United, which stands for the collective responsibility of all in advancing water, sanitation and hygiene issues in the country.

In his closing remarks, the chairman for the launch, Mr. Minta Aboagye, Director, Water Directorate, who announced he would be the coach for the WASH-United team, said WASH is at the core of activities of the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing.

He said he hoped that the launch will ensure that behaviours and attitudes are changed, which meant that there is the need for a sustained campaign, asking all in the WASH sector to take it seriously.

The Director thus urged the media to as stakeholders, get on board to help in educating and sensitising the populace on water, sanitation and hygiene issues.

Earlier on in his welcome address, Country Coordinator for WASH-United, Rudolf Amenga-Etego, said all over the world, governments have found it difficult to deal with water, sanitation and hygiene issues due to a financial gap for the sector, which has culminated in the inadequacy of finance in that sector.

According to Mr. Amenga-Etego, it is as a result of this that the idea of innovative ways to deal with WASH issues came up, to make the issues everybody’s issue at a very personal level.

“And for that reason, we thought football; soccer should be one innovative way by which we can heighten the campaign in most WASH activities in Ghana. So we took advantage of the fact that the world cup is at home in Africa to make football the focus of our campaign,” he said.

He added that he hoped Ghanaians will attach the same passion they have for football to WASH activities and issues.

WASH-United is an international campaign to promote the right to water and sanitation, focusing especially on Sub-Saharan Africa.  It is a new and innovative approach to promote water, sanitation and in particular hygiene, launched at the Johannesburg Africa Water Week in November 2009.

At the centre of the campaign are sports celebrities, particularly celebrated football stars such as Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba among others. 

The idea is to unite humankind around the idea of a systematic and sustained campaign to entrench the right to water and sanitation in all national constitutions and to promote public and personal hygiene as a way of life.

The WASH-United programme in Ghana, which is being coordinated by GrassrootsAfrica, an NGO, is targeting youth football clubs, keep fit clubs and students, civil society organisations and policy makers, with the belief that these categories will be best suited to carry the message across, taking advantage of the enthusiasm and unity among citizens that the World Cup has generated.

Currently, WASH-United is focusing on promoting safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all in eight sub-Saharan African countries comprising Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lesotho, Uganda and Tanzania.

In addition to the activities in the WASH-United targeted countries, there are also targeted activities taking place in Europe to raise awareness for the importance of water and sanitation among the general public and political decision makers.