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National Sanitation Day losing its aim – Checks reveal

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Born some five years ago as an initiative to ensure clean and healthy environment, the National Sanitation Day has lost its aim.

As the first Saturday of the month, it is expected that the citizenry would come out in their numbers to exercise their civic responsibility by cleaning their environment.

The story is however not the case as Radio Ghana’s rounds in some parts of the Metropolis show mountains of refuse as traders turn a blind eye to the monthly clean up exercise.

Brought into fusion five years ago, the National Sanitation Day has two aims. First, it is to rekindle patriotism among the citizenry and to drum home the need to keep the surroundings as well as the nation clean.

The enthusiasm that welcomed the initiative was so encouraging that communities could not wait for the first Saturday of every month to partner their assemblies to clean their environment.

Five years down the journey, the story is different. As Radio Ghana’s Correspondent went round some communities starting from the Ga Central Municipal Assembly in the Anyaa Sowutoum Constituency through to Odorkor, Kaneshie, Abbosey Okai, Graphic Road, CMB and to the business district of Accra particularly Makola, there were mountains of refuse.

Though all shops were closed at the time of the visit, it was visible the traders were not engaged in any activity to clean their environment. Their response was that the AMA should be responsible for rubbish collection since they pay daily taxes meant for that work.
The traders said the officials of AMA only come around with their information vans to announce that no shop should open till 11 am and that ends it. They complained of lack of bins for the rubbish even if they adhere to the AMA’s directive.

Former Local Government Minister and Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, who was instrumental in the National Sanitation Day policy spoke on reasons why filth has engulfed the city and suggested ways by which the menace could be addressed.
As the President dreams of making Ghana the cleanest city in Africa in his first term in office, there’s no doubt that one of the mechanisms to achieve that agenda is by educating the people to embrace voluntary communal activities and patriotism to the nation.

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