The La-Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA) Sanitation Task Force on Saturday arrested 22 persons and instantly fined them for not taking part in the 14th National Sanitation Day within its jurisdiction.

The arrested persons include 10 shop keepers and 12 petty traders, who were briskly displaying and selling their wares during the exercise.

The 10 shopkeepers were fined GH¢100.00 each while the petty traders were fined between GH¢20 and GH¢50.00 each.

The LaNMMA Sanitation exercise, which had begun as early as 06.00 hours attracted market women from Madina, roadside vendors, staff of LaNMMA and voluntary organizations such as the Concerned Citizens Association of Madina, the North Legon Residents Association and the Baba-Yara Youth Association.

The exercise covered all the Madina Lorry Stations, the Madina Central Market area, North Legon, Baba-Yara, Pantang and its environs, saw the desilting of gutters, weeding of overgrown weeds and with the assistance of the Alliance Waste Compaction truck and a tipper truck, all the waste materials were carted away.

Mr. Joseph Quacoe, the Head of Environmental Health Management Unit of LaNMMA, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, the flash point for the cleanup exercise was the Atomic Junction area to the Ritz Junction. Speaking on the exercise, Mr. Quacoe said despite public announcements "our people were apathetic and therefore we needed to enforce the National Sanitation Laws to serve as a deterrent" and described the attendance as very poor.

Alhaji Saaka Dramani, the Co-ordinating Director of LaNMMA, who took part in the exercise, later inspected the whole cleanup exercise.