The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Akweley Obenewaa Ocloo, has directed metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the region to empower their environmental health staff or engage dedicated taskforces to clean and monitor sanitation practices within their jurisdictions to ensure cleanliness at all times.
She gave the directive during a monitoring exercise to selected assemblies in Accra last week as part of efforts to improve sanitation and address environmental challenges confronting the region.
The assemblies visited included Korle Klottey, Ayawaso Central, Ga North, Okaikwei North and Ga Central.
Every day is sanitation day
Addressing the MMDCEs of the assemblies, Mrs Ocloo stressed that sanitation should not be treated as a one-day activity but a daily responsibility.
“This time around, we said don’t wait till it’s time for sanitation day before you clean up your areas. Every day should be sanitation day. Monitor your task force.”
“You say you’ve contracted some people to do the cleaning, make sure that you monitor them to see whether they are working or not, and make sure you employ people from your locality,” she said.
She tasked MMDCEs and assembly members to work closely together, saying such collaboration was critical to achieving sustained sanitation improvements.
Observations
Mrs Ocloo said good sanitation practices were observed in most of the areas visited, except Ga Central and Okaikwei North, where medians and some streets were found to be unkempt.
She stressed the need for assemblies to comply with the government’s resetting agenda, noting that sanitation must be a continuous effort and not restricted to designated clean-up days.
She also called for the engagement of local residents for cleaning activities instead of bringing in workers from outside the communities.
Assemblies’ response
The Municipal Chief Executive for Ayawaso Central, Rudolph Collingwoode-Williams, said cleaning exercises were ongoing from Danquah Circle through Kaneshie and Alajo to the central business district as part of a decongestion and sanitation drive.
He said his assembly, in collaboration with the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, would soon embark on an intensive decongestion exercise within the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange enclave to improve sanitation in the area.
The Coordinating Director of the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, Emmanuel Baisei, said the assembly had engaged private companies to collect household waste in low-income areas, helping to reduce indiscriminate dumping in the city.
He said the assembly was also shifting its focus towards a circular economy aimed at converting waste into a resource for economic opportunities.
Mr Baisei added that a special task force had been set up to enforce sanitation by-laws and prosecute offenders to address negative behavioural and attitudinal practices.
The MCEs for Ga Central, Emmanuel Adotey Allotey, and Ga North, Akwetey Agbo, expressed their commitment to keeping their municipalities clean and pledged to intensify monitoring of cleaned areas.
The Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North, Theresa Lardi Awuni, who joined the monitoring team, called for the timely payment of sweepers in the constituency.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
