The Local Government Minister, Ahmed Ibrahim, has dismissed claims that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) are failing to desilt drains, insisting that the responsibility for clearing major storm drains lies with the Department of Urban Roads.
Speaking to journalists at Alajo on the second day of the National General Clean-Up Exercise on Saturday, July 11, the Minister said it was unfair to blame MMDCEs for choked storm drains when the funds for that work are allocated to the Department of Urban Roads.
He explained that District Assemblies receive limited resources for sanitation, making it impossible for them to undertake large-scale desilting alongside their other sanitation responsibilities.
According to him, only 10 percent of the District Assemblies Common Fund is earmarked for sanitation, leaving most Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies with inadequate funding to cover sweeping, waste collection, drain maintenance and other sanitation activities throughout the year.
“To say that the MMDCEs are sleeping on the job is something that I won’t take lightly. Because the responsibility of desilting drains and the storm drains is the responsibility of urban roads. Those monies go to urban roads. So how can you come and be insulting a DCE who is merely responsible for primary drains?
“The amount given to MMDCEs- the money given to my DCE for the 2025 first to fourth quarter- was GHC13 million. Ten per cent for sanitation is GHC1.3 million. Can you use GHC1.3 million for the entire sanitation work in my district for the whole year? Recruiting people to be sweeping, paying them, sending recyclables, etc can you use GHC1.3 million for the whole year?” he questioned.
He, therefore, urged the public to direct concerns over the desilting of major storm drains to the appropriate agency, stressing that such works should have been completed before the onset of the rainy season.
“That is the responsibility of the urban roads. And urban roads, they should have done it before the rains set in, not the MMDCEs,” he stated.
![John Setor Dumelo, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture [in white attire], with other participants](https://www.citinewsroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AFRI-350x250.png)
