Ghanaians have been admonished to participate in the National Sanitation Day exercise because there is evidence to show that it is achieving desired results.

Deputy Local Government Minister, Emmanuel Agyekum, observed that Ghana is yet to record an outbreak of cholera in 2016, nearly two years after the National Sanitation Day exercise was instituted.

The NSD was a government’s reaction to the most fatal cholera outbreak in 30 years after at least 28,975 cases and 243 deaths were recorded in 2014.

The following year, 591 confirmed cholera cases with five deaths between January and May were recorded.

Photo: A cholera fatality being conveyed to the mortuary in 2014

The communal exercise which has been fixed for the first Saturday of every month entered its 19^th month  last Saturday after the first edition on November 1, 2014.

But enthusiasm has been dwindling and there are plans by government to make the voluntary exercise compulsory with the passage of a law.

The Deputy minister noticed withering interest when he joined residents in Awutu Senya in the Central Region for the monthly exercise.

“A lot of people are not coming out to work, but what I want to say to Ghanaians is to come out and clean the environment”, he told journalists.

With the onset of rains which often expose the level of filth and trigger an outbreak of the disease, Ghana is still cholera-free, he said.

He noted that if inspite of low patronage over the past months, hospitals are not recording cholera cases, then a greater turn-out can mark the end of filthy cities and communities.