Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda has declared the Upper West Region capital Wa as the cleanest town in the country.

“I must say that Wa is so neat that I cannot compare to any of the regional capitals”, he confessed.

He was addressing participants of the National Sanitation Day exercise in the regional capital Saturday.

The Minister praised the people of the town for the massive turnout and the nonpartisan nature of the exercise, thus making it successful.

Overlord of Wa, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo on Wednesday threatened to deskin chiefs who fail to participate in the exercise.

The Upper West Region was the focal point for this month’s National Sanitation Day exercise.

He commended the Wa Municipal Assembly for leading the charge.

Before the National Sanitation Day exercise came in to being, Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Issahaku Nuhu Putiaha in December 2013 instituted monthly clean up exercise in the Wa municipality.

The exercise also brought along representative of registered political parties who joined the exercise thereby adding color to it.

He also commended the opposition parties for taking part in the exercise, noting that their participation to a very large extent made it successful.

‘‘Very conspicuously seen are the NDC, NPP, CPP and the PPP dressed in T-Shirts and participating actively in the exercise. I can say that it is unique as far the national sanitation day exercise is concerned,’’ he added.

Upper West Regional Minister, Amin Amidu Sulemani, advised the people to continue on a daily basis to clean their surroundings and make good use of the refuse bins donated to the region by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The ministry earlier in the week donated 10, 000 refuse bins to the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (UWRCC) to be distributed to district assemblies to be placed at vantage points in their districts.

The exercise was scheduled to kick start at 7am but an hour to the time, the forecourt of the UWRCC, the converging point for the exercise was already crowded with a sea of people.

Heads of decentralized department and their subordinate officers, personnel of the security services and students from some second-cycle and tertiary institutions were in attendance.

They were quickly put into groups and sent to various locations in the municipality.

Alhaji Collins Dauda accompanied by the Upper West Regional Minister, Amin Amidu Sulemani were in the first group tasked to ensure that the Rawlings Street, the Wa Market and gutters at Wa Zongo were cleaned.

They were later joined by the overlord of the Waala traditional area, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, dressed in black Adidas tracksuit and a light brown polo cup to march accompanied by a Council of State Member Guli Naa Seidu Braimah at the Doodoo street.

The Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV told Joy News that his appearance was to drum home the seriousness he attached to the exercise and to show exemplary leadership.

At the Wa Kejetia, members of the Ghana Private Road Transport (GPRTU) stopped all buses from loading until the exercise was over.