As part of efforts to help curtail the rising spread of cholera in the country, the Tema office of Zoomlion Ghana Limited last Saturday undertook a clean-up exercise along the 19-kilometre Accra-Tema Motorway.

The exercise began at about 7a.m. from the Tema Motorway roundabout through to Lapaz and ended at Mallam Junction in Accra.

Sanitation officers from the company weeded and picked litter and also evacuated refuse heaps along the road. While engaged in the clearing work they also found time to educate motorists and other road users on ways to keep a clean environment and on personal hygiene.

Apart from a sanitation officers from Zoomlion, there were volunteers from the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and other assemblies along the route of the clean- up, as well as some officers from the Police Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD).

In an interview with the media, Greater Accra Regional Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr. Gershon Sogbey, said a total of 1,500 were deployed for the exercise.

He said motorists who used the tollbooths on the Accra-Tema Motorway threw toll tickets away indiscriminately along the road.

In addition, he said, hawkers who sell at the tollbooths compounded the sanitation as they disposed off the waste they generated haphazardly.

“Companies along the motorway also have small heaps of refuse on their compounds which is an indication of their poor waste management practices,” he said.

Mr Sogbey also urged the public to change their attitudes with regard to sanitation, adding  Zoomlion would do its best to achieve a clean environment for the country.

The Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Ibrahim Baidoo, lauded Zoomlion for its commitment of ensuring that the environment was clean.
He expressed worry over the generally poor sanitation conditions all across the country.

“It is time we sat up and faced reality by working to save the environment because gradually the issue of cleanliness was fading off in the society,” he said.

He wondered why even educated people who drove in the streets and on the roads constantly threw rubbish out of their cars. “This is unpardonable,” he said.

Mr. Baidoo said it was time the general public took it as a civic responsibility to clean their environment rather than assume it to be work reserved for sanitation officers.

“Keeping a clean environment should be a collective responsibility. Do not litter for someone to come and clean,” he added.

Under the circumstances, he has suggested to heads of educational institutions in the country to bring back ‘inspection days’ in schools to instill in children the habit of having the environment cleaned always.