By Michael Kofi Kenetey
The New Juaben North Municipal Assembly has summoned several shop owners for failing to participate in a clean-up exercise organised to mark National Sanitation Day at Asokore in the Eastern Region.
The exercise, which was led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Samuel Adongo, was organised with support from the Asokore Traditional Council and the Ghana Prisons Service through the Koforidua Local Prisons.
Participants included assembly staff, representatives of the traditional council, executives of the National Democratic Congress, community members and prison inmates.
Activities carried out during the exercise included sweeping streets, weeding overgrown areas and desilting choked gutters from the Asokore Community Centre through the main streets of Asokore to the Effiduase traffic light.
Speaking to GBC News after the exercise, Mr Adongo urged residents to take sanitation seriously and regularly clean their surroundings and the frontages of their homes and businesses to help make the municipality one of the cleanest in the region.
He commended the Asokore Traditional Council and security agencies, particularly the police and prison officers, for supervising inmates who participated in the exercise.
Mr Adongo, however, expressed concern about the low turnout of community members, attributing it to several funeral events held on the same day. He said the assembly is in discussions with traditional authorities to dedicate the first Saturday of every month to the observance of National Sanitation Day.
The MCE warned that shop owners who failed to participate would be prosecuted as a deterrent to others.
A Chief of the Asokore Traditional Council, Nana Appiah Boamah, commended John Dramani Mahama for instituting National Sanitation Day to promote cleanliness and improve public health.
He urged residents, especially shop owners and food vendors, to keep their surroundings clean, noting that maintaining sanitation helps promote good health and reduce healthcare costs.
