Accra, July 3, GNA - The Youth Ministry of the Mamprobi branch of the Global Evangelical Church on Saturday held a clean-up exercise with the call on the youth to take responsibility for the cleanliness of their environment.

Mr Moses Ahlivia, Catechist of the church who made the call, said the church must front environmental issues with passion, especially the cleanliness of the environment.

The exercise officially opens the Youth week celebration of the church which starts July 2, and ends on July 11, 2010. The members of the church de-silt gutters, cleared weedy grounds and cleared rubbish dumps.

The exercise was done in collaboration with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, under the theme "Be Zealous for Christ."

The Catechist said it was so amazing that gutters were chocked with plastic wastes in front of churches adding that communities cried to government for drains only for them to fill them with wastes. "God is clean and created a clean environment," he said and added that "cleanliness is Godliness."

He said individuals must ensue that gutters in front of their houses and the vicinity were constantly de-silted to avoid flooding. He called on parents to teach their children the spirit of cleanliness and wondered why in a Christian nation like Ghana there was so much apathy for tidying up the environment. Ms Grace Naadu Adiko, assembly member of the Gbortsu Electoral area, said district assemblies must help in the cleaning of the area with logistics.

She said organising cleanup exercises were becoming very difficult because of the apathy of residents. She called on the assemblies to enforce sanitary laws to punish people who litter the environment to the detriment of others. The President of the Youth Ministry, Mr Gabriel Adjei, said the youth must assume an attitude of humility in order to learn from the elderly. He called on the church members to be united. 03 July 10