Ex-president John Rawlings has accepted to be the ambassador for a revamped sanitation campaign being championed by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

The campaign is to applaud individuals, houses and companies who keep their surroundings clean in Accra and punish others who live it unkempt.

Mr Rawlings was one of the few personalities applauded and awarded for keeping his Ridge surroundings, both inside and outside very clean.

At least two companies whose surroundings have been left messy have been served a warning notice by the AMA and given five days to keep a clean environment.

Mayor of Accra, Nii Adjei Sowah who led scores of sanitary inspectors across the length and breadth of the Metropolis, Tuesday, ended up at the Ridge residence of the ex-president and were elated with how he had kept his surroundings.

“We realized that you are not only keeping the inner compound very green but the outer compound is also very green and the AMA wants to show its appreciation to you by giving you this plaque which shows that the City of Accra recognizes your continuous effort at ensuring a clean beautiful and manicured surroundings,” he stated.

He pleaded with the ex-president to accept to be the ambassador of sanitation for the AMA, a position Mr Rawlings gleefully accepted.

“I certainly will [be the ambassador] and keep up the pressure. Don’t ease up at all. There is a lot of fight ahead of us. When you can’t change people’s habit, change the environment and make them respond to it. It brings about a social sense of responsibility. That is what we need to restore the discipline that we used to be associated with,” the Ex-president said.

Saman saman

The AMA sanitation campaign popularly referred to as the 'saman saman' had officials of the AMA going round Accra to inspect homes and offices.

The campaign which was popular in the Kwame Nkrumah regime somewhat fizzled out and has led to poor sanitation practices.

The new AMA boss Nii Adjei Sowah who has a task and responsibility to keep Accra clean believes the reintroduction of the saman saman concept will be the best way to solving the problem of poor sanitation in Accra and parts of the country.

In his unannounced visits to parts of the capital, Nii Adjei Sowah expressed reservations about how Movenpick had allowed its frontage to be used by “Taxi drivers and resting place for all kinds of people. That cannot be allowed,” he warned.