Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has urged Ghanaians to make cleanliness a daily habit rather than waiting for National Sanitation Day to clean their communities.

He observed that if everyone would take responsibility of their surrounding and keep their communities clean, the exercise might not even be necessary, saying “cleanliness should be part of our daily lives, it should be a mindset and everyone must take responsibility for their frontage and household to ensure their surroundings are clean.”

Mr Ibrahim made this call in an interview with the media after participating in the first National Sanitation Day exercise of 2026 in the Sunyani Municipality.

The exercise, held on the first Saturday of every month, is designed to ensure that communities across metropolitan, Municipal and District areas remain clean and environmentally friendly.

Mr Ibrahim announced that to ensure sanitation laws, Municipalities will soon recruit sanitation guards and environmental officers to monitor compliance, and a sanitation court will be established to prosecute offenders.

“If these laws are violated, offenders will be prosecuted and face the full consequences,” he stated.

He mentioned that cabinet and presidential directives would back the efforts saying was not going to be something symbolic but backed by cabinet and presidential directives which would be enforced by the Ministry and implemented by local authorities, including adherence to local sanitation laws.

In a related interview, Mr Seid Mubarak, Member of Parliament for Sunyani East Constituency, stressed that sanitation was a collective responsibility in maintaining a clean environment.

He called on the Municipal Assembly to enforce its bylaws, including penalizing individuals who failed to remove unauthorised signposts from public roads.

He also encouraged shop owners and traders to reduce plastic waste and urged religious and traditional leaders to help educate citizens on sanitation

Mr Vincent Antwi Agyei, the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, reaffirmed the assembly’s commitment to prioritising sanitation and appealed to chiefs and residents to support the Assembly’s efforts to achieve its goal of maintaining a clean and healthy city.