The Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, has called for stiffer sanctions for sanitation offenders to help imbibe proper waste management practices among the citizens.   

Speaking after the two-day national general clean-up exercise in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, he stated that individuals must be held responsible and sanctioned for any indiscriminate dumping of refuse to help improve environmental cleanliness. 

He said, "We all know that the waste we generate and our inability to properly dispose of the same is attitudinal, and so we must all be held responsible for our environment. 

“If the assembly bylaws are strictly enforced, people will come to the consciousness that when you litter, there is a big price you are going to pay for your actions,” he added.

Mr Nelson noted that while the national general clean-up campaign was a good initiative, such exercises should be a daily activity within communities. 

"The occasional call for us to clean our environment is good, but that alone does not entirely solve our sanitation problems, so I believe that the assemblies must strictly enforce their by-laws and sanctions so that cleaning our spaces becomes a part of our daily habits,” he stated.