As part of efforts to keep Bolgatanga clean and instil the habit of good sanitation practices among the citizenry, the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council, (RCC) in collaboration with the inter-party advisory committee, political parties, religious bodies and citizens have undertaken a clean-up across the Bolgatanga Municipality.
It was part of measures instituted by the Upper East RCC to ensure that the environment was clean, and encouraged good sanitation and good hygienic behaviors and attitudes among the people in the Municipality.
The exercise started around 0600 hours this morning at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park with stakeholders in sanitation and refuse management, political parties, market women and Municipal Assembly as well as the media.
The major places of focus were the choked gutters around the Bolagatanga Township, streets, both old and new markets, the lorry stations and parks, residential compounds and other public institutions.
In an interview with GBC24, the Upper East Regional Chairman of the Convention Peoples Party, Alhaji Husein Ibrahim, said the move will go a long way to inculcate the habit of cleanliness among the people in the region.
The Upper East Regional Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress, Abraham Lambon, expressed satisfaction about the level of enthusiasm among the people who took part of the exercise.
The Upper East Regional Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party, Solomon Latif, said the exercise was also an indication that the people in the region placed emphasis on environmental health and sanitation issues in the Municipality and was committed to meeting the sanitation needs of the people.
Addressing the crowd at the Jubilee Park after the exercise, The Upper East Regional Paulina Patience Abayage was full of joy and happiness judging from her countenance.
She thanked all and sundry for the massive turn-out to support the exercise.
She was of the view that, one of the biggest challenges in the municipality was the conspicuous plastic bags everywhere polluting the environment.
The Regional Minister, therefore advised the crowd to be conscious of their environment by avoiding littering and properly dispose-off their waste in a responsible manner.
She also charged the MDCE’s to replicate the same at their various districts and present reports with visuals to her office.
Ms. Abayage explained that the exercise was in line with her vision of ensuring safe environment and the adoption of good sanitation practices in the region.
The Minister stated that a clean environment had the potential to prevent diseases such as cholera, malaria, typhoid among others and called for collective efforts from residents in the Municipality to ensure that they fully participated in the exercise and future ones for a conducive environment.
Ms. Abayage said the move is aimed at uniting the people in the region. Ms. Abayage, however, regretted the indiscriminate disposal of waste in the Municipality and called for attitudinal change towards waste management and disposal.
The clean-up was on the theme “UNITE TO CLEAN BOLGATANGA”.
Story by Emmanuel Akayeti
