The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation teamed up with Karela Football Club, a Premiership side based at Anyinase in the Ellembele District, to undertake a clean-up exercise at Ngelekazo and Beyin in the Jomoro District of the Western Region on May Day.

The football team, which has a social commitment to the welfare of its neighbouring towns, released their players to join the Foundation’s staff and other members of the community to clean the seaweed and other debris along the Coast.

The clean-up exercise which started in the morning covered five kilometres

Health campaigns such as this and the protection of the environment are of particular importance to the Foundation as it forms part of the main tenets of its operations.

After the exercise, the Executive Director of GNPC Foundation, Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, emphasized on the need to keep the environment clean and tidy at all times to forestall communicable and water-borne diseases such as malaria, cholera, diarrhoea and amoebic dysentery.

The exercise remains one of many activities being undertaken by GNPC to improve the quality of life of the people of the Western Region and beyond.

In order not to make the clean-up exercise a one-off occurrence, the Foundation donated the cleaning equipment (rakes, shovels, gloves, lawn brooms) to the communities to use for periodic clean-ups as part of the sanitation competition which will be instituted by GNPC Foundation and Karela FC.

"I will detail some of my officers to come down and do an unannounced inspection and the town with the cleanest environment will be rewarded with a Development Project of their choice”, he echoed.

He also used the opportunity to highlight some of the corporate social investment (CSI) projects being undertaken by GNPC within the Western Region which includes the awarding of over 250 Scholarships to students to study STEM subjects in the public tertiary institutions.

Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh also spoke of the provision of equipment and financial support for some Secondary and Technical Schools, completion of Accident and Emergency Unit for Half Assini Government Hospital. 

The Foundation has also provided a Classroom Block for Effia Nkwanta Nursing and Midwifery School, as well as a 160-bed dormitory for Sekondi School for the Deaf, among others.

The CEO of Karela FC, David Cobbina Brigidi thanked GNPC for the collaboration in the clean-up exercise and commended the Corporation for the interventions done in the area to impact the lives of the people.