By Alex Ababio
KUMASI — Despite a long, heavy downpour that lasted for hours, on Friday , 28 November 2025 community leaders, public-health advocates, and civil-society guests made their way to Kumasi for a night of celebration and commitment
The event: the 3rd edition of the Damak–IDP Sanitation Excellence Awards, organised by Damak Sanitation Health Watch in partnership with the Swiss International Direct Project (IDP). Rather than glitzy trophies for profit or politics, the awards honoured service: people, local leaders, and institutions whose tireless work has elevated sanitation, hygiene, and clean-water access across the Ashanti Region.
“This is about public health, dignity, and sustainable development for our people,” declared the group’s Executive Director, Daniel Mbabugri Akgri, in his keynote address — a message that reverberated across the hall and out into communities long plagued by poor sanitation.
Why It Matters: From Gutters to Boreholes — Real Impact, Real Lives
The significance of the Damak-IDP Awards goes beyond applause. The initiative aligns with a growing shift in Ghana toward recognizing sanitation not as a side project, but as a core pillar of public health and development. Recent reporting shows that in many districts, unchecked waste, clogged drains, and lack of clean water continue to threaten residents’ health.
Damak-IDP assesses communities rigorously. According to Akgri’s speech, the process involves mapping sanitation points — toilets, refuse dumps, gutters — assigning GPS coordinates, and then using satellite systems (via Google) to monitor the cleanliness and maintenance of these sites. Communities are scored based on sustained hygiene efforts, presence of potable water (e.g. boreholes), proper waste-management, and public-health resilience.
The stakes are real: poor sanitation and contaminated water are known triggers for diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. As noted in April 2025 by a former President of the Ghana Medical Association, consistent hygiene and safe water access are among the most effective measures to prevent outbreaks — especially during the rainy season.
Spotlight on the Heroes — Who Won, and Why
At the awards night, eight individuals and institutions were honoured. Standouts included:
Hon. Owusu King, Assemblyman for Tafo Nhyiaeso (and CEO of the Royal Nursing College), who won the Overall Best Award for his “exceptional leadership and impactful sanitation initiatives” in his electoral area.
Alhaji Ibrahim Wahab Tikuma, the Ashanti Regional Chief Butcher — recognised for improving sanitary conditions at the Kumasi Abattoir, specifically how meat is dressed, handled, and conveyed to markets. (As noted in the speech you provided.)
Hon. Samuel Kolebila Duabuuri, Assemblyman for Adenyaase Serwaaba Electoral Area, among others.
Awardees’ work ranged from market sanitation and waste-management to provision of potable water and better drainage, underlining that sanitation is not one-dimensional but involves many layers: water access, waste disposal, hygiene practices, community education and infrastructure.
According to Daniel Mbabugri, some of the selected communities will benefit from borehole construction to provide portable water — building on the success of prior awards that resulted in new water-access points for deserving communities.
Damak-IDP also used the platform to appeal to the public — especially market goers — to discourage the use of polythene bags, urging instead for reusable paper bags or other environmentally friendly options.
In his acceptance remarks, Hon. Owusu King expressed deep gratitude to Damak–IDP for the honour, describing the award as “a powerful reminder that community service truly matters.” He pledged to intensify his sanitation efforts within the Tafo Nhyiaeso Electoral Area and called on Ghanaians to take personal responsibility for their environment. He advised citizens to adopt simple daily habits such as proper waste disposal, regular cleaning of homes and gutters, and reducing the use of polythene bags, stressing that “a cleaner Ghana begins with the choices each of us makes.”
Sanitation in Ghana: A Rising Tide of Recognition and Action
The Damak-IDP Awards are part of a broader shift across Ghana toward recognizing sanitation as a shared responsibility — not just a government duty. For instance, the monthly National Sanitation Day (Ghana) mobilizes citizens across the country to clean their surroundings.
Additionally, other initiatives — such as the ongoing World Vision Ghana WASH programme in the Sekyere Afram Plains — work to bring water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure to underserved communities across Ashanti and beyond.
Innovative collaborations like between Safisana Ghana and Clean Team Ghana — which treat fecal and organic waste to produce bio-fertilizer and biogas — show that sustainable sanitation can also be climate-smart, economically viable and health-centric.
What’s Next: Schools, Youth, and Community Ownership
The ceremony ended not just with applause, but with vision. According to Akgri, in 2026 Damak-IDP will launch an Inter-School Community Sanitation Challenge across all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. The goal: to engage youth and students in designing innovative sanitation solutions for their communities (as per the speech text).
Supported by IDP Switzerland and other partners, the organisation also plans to construct more boreholes in underserved areas, and continue supporting community-level needs that uplift public health and sanitation. (Speech text + external coverage)
This underscores an important shift — sanitation is no longer just about waste removal or cleaning gutters. It’s about empowerment, community ownership, youth engagement, and long-term health infrastructure.
Why It Matters to You — and to Ghana
For readers in Ashanti and throughout Ghana, this awards initiative shows that tangible progress is possible: with coordinated efforts, community commitment, and recognition, sanitation can transform from a nuisance to a competitive virtue.
Better sanitation reduces health risks, improves livelihoods, and restores dignity — particularly in underserved communities. And when young people, schools, and ordinary citizens join the effort, the gains can be sustained.
For communities waiting years for clean water or functional drainage, boreholes and borehole-based water supply can literally mean the difference between disease outbreaks and healthy lives.