Mr. Ignatius Kwamina Baidoo, First Counselor of Kaneshie Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has advised the public not to wait on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to clean the environment.

He said keeping the environment clean was a civic responsibility for all, therefore, it would not augur well for people to sit unconcerned in filthy surroundings.

Mr Baidoo said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during the “All Africa Helping Hands Service Project’ at Dansoman, a suburb of Accra on Wednesday.

The All Africa Helping Hands Service Project is an annual project designated by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for its members to reach out and serve people in the communities in which they live.

The theme for this years’ project was “Together we can do good”.

Mr Samuel Annan Simons, Bishop of the Dansoman Ward, said it was important for leaders of the country to prioritize sanitation.

He said although taxes paid were meant to ensure a clean environment, individuals should desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the streets.

“People have the mentality that since I am a tax payer, I can litter around, and it is the responsibility of government to clean the environment” he added.

Mr Simons said the saying “cleanliness is next to godliness” should be the yardstick for the attitude of individuals towards sanitation.

Mr Chris Ikedi Umunnabuike, High Priest Group Leader of the Laterbiokoshie Ward, said the problem of sanitation could be addressed if the AMA strictly implemented a monthly cleaning exercise.

He said unlike Nigeria, it was a national policy for all states to dedicate the last Saturday of every month for cleaning and stressed on the need for Ghana to adopt such measures.

The service project over the years had seen members of the church reach out to the communities in which they live by cleaning places such as hospitals, schools, markets and other churches in various communities.