Residents of Ga Mashie have called for the services of sanitation officers in their communities to help curb the practice of open defecation and dumping of refuse into gutters.  

According to them, many people often kept garbage where they lived, threw faeces around and refused to clean their surroundings. 

The residents said this during the day one of the Homowo Cleanup Exercise which was organised by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Ga Traditional Council and supported by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC), Local Government Ministry and Zoomlion Ghana Ltd. 

Residents of Gbese, Abola, Sempe and Asere cleared and cleaned their surroundings and asked the AMA to institute a 24-hour sanitation surveillance.  

Grace Naa Ayeley Ayi, Osiakwan Woyo (Fetish Priestess) Abola Piam, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said, for years, they had not seen the presence and services of sanitation officers, a situation that had led to indiscipline amongst residents.  

“Some don’t want to pay a token for places of convenience. The law must punish them,” she said.  

The Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Elizabeth Kwastoe Tawiah Sackey, commended the enthusiasm and active participation of community members, adding that she was urging the various houses to make the exercise a routine task.  

She said the era of taking sanitation offenders to court where they paid a fine was over, rather stricter punishment regime had been put in place to correct deviant behaviours.  

“I am expecting that this will be a weekly routine. We shall be following up to ensure this exercise continues. I will be sending my sanitation officers to the communities to curb these behaviours,” she said.  

The Public Relations and Corporate Affairs Manager, Zoomlion, Mr Ernest Morgan Acquah said the exercise showed that with unity, community members could perform any task and achieve results.  

He said households must understand that they needed to pay for the waste they generated and not keep them in their rooms waiting for such exercises.  

“We need to own it and not think that it is a government exercise. In waste management, the stakeholders, individuals and government are important. Fortunately, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, is leading the initiative and so there are no political associations, but commitments,” Mr Acquah said.