The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is pushing through a new legislation before Parliament to make the National Sanitation Day legal.

The Ministry is currently reviewing these laws and has presented a draft copy to Cabinet.

The law would ensure that people who absent themselves from the nationwide cleaning exercise could be liable for prosecution.

Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Tamale said even though there are by-laws at district assembly levels that can be enforced to keep the environment clean, the laws at the national level have become obsolete.

According to Joy News Northern Region Correspondent, Martina Bugri, the Deputy Minister said the laws to ensure environmental cleanliness do not bite hard enough.

The law, according to the Deputy Minister "will also take care of open defecation, and people littering wantonly".

The Minister is in the Northern Region ahead of the National Sanitation Day that falls on February 7.