Parliamentary Committee demands posting of over 2,000 unemployed environmental officers

The Parliamentary Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources is urging the Ministry of Finance to urgently grant financial clearance for the immediate posting of over 2,000 Environmental Health Officer graduates who have remained jobless since 2021.

The committee argues that deploying these professionals to local assemblies is crucial to addressing Ghana’s worsening sanitation challenges.

Addressing the media, Committee Chairman John Oti Bless described the current situation as both wasteful and alarming, stressing that Ghana is falling dangerously short of global benchmarks.

He cited World Health Organization (WHO) standards, which recommend one Environmental Health Officer per 800 residents.

According to him, Ghana, by contrast, has just one officer for every 8,000 people—a ratio that severely hampers public health efforts.

“Over 2,000 graduates have been sitting at home since 2021. They have not been posted, and we think that is unfortunate. We know our colleague, the Finance Minister, is a listening person.

“They should do everything possible to issue clearance to the ministries so these young graduates can be posted.”

“Today, at many MMDAs, one environmental officer is responsible for over 8,000 people. How are we going to succeed in the fight against sanitation? We want a clean environment,” he stated.