Thirteen persons have been arrested and arraigned before the KMA Court for various sanitation offenses.

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, in renewed efforts to clamp down on insanitary living in Kumasi, has reintroduced an enhanced summons initiative, popularly known as “samansaman”.

Homes, shops, churches and hospitality facilities in the Dichemso suburb of Kumasi were taken by surprise when the sanitation enforcement taskforce, otherwise known as ‘samansaman’, besieged them.

The task force, comprising soldiers and sanitation officers of the KMA, moved to every nook and cranny of the community to inspect their sanitary conditions.

In some households, waste was found on the compound, while gutters running through parts of the area were heavily choked with plastics and silt, preventing the free flow of liquid waste.

The exercise witnessed some pushback from the residents, while in other instances, the residents were tasked with cleaning their frontages.

At the Latter-Day Saints Church in the area, the administrator for the temple was picked up by the team for the unkempt conditions at the church.

Public Relations Officer for KMA, Henrietta Afia Konadu Aboagye, explained the reason for the arrest.

"When we came here, we observed that the frontage was unsanitary. The Chief Inspector spoke with them and informed them that they would be taken to court as part of the sanitation enforcement exercise.

“The administrator refused to go. She said she was calling her boss to come, but the boss never showed up. She also refused to move after we had asked her to do so.

“We came peacefully again and sent another team; she still didn’t come, so we had to come and forcefully take her so that the bosses would meet her in court."

Kwaku Poku, the environmental health officer for KMA, noted that the exercise is in a renewed effort to restore Kumasi to its glory days as the Garden City of Ghana.

He highlighted plans to sustain the initiative until people live sanitarily in Kumasi.

“It is going to be throughout the period of the existence of KMA,” he said.