The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) which has waged ‘war’ on residents who litter around indiscriminately that result in the piled up of refuse in the city starts public education this week.

The education will make the residents change their attitudes to make the city clean and green, and is been done by 150 national service personnel who were trained by the KMA on environmental and sanitation issues.

The personnel have been tagged as ‘Sanitation Crusaders”.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of KMA Hon Osei Assibey who announced the introduction of the spot fine during their training said there would be a public education for one month and after that period those found guilty of littering around will be sanctioned either by spot fine or arraign before the law court.

“These personnel who have been trained and equipped with environmental and sanitation education, and equipped with the by-laws will reach out to the people in their homes, churches, market places, lorry terminals among others to educate the public for one month not to litter around to make the environment clean. Then after that, sanctions will be applied to those who go against it”, he warned.

Hon Osei Assibey believed when the city is free from filth, apart from controlling diseases like malaria and cholera, the resources that could have been used on managing the waste could be channeled to other areas for development.

“The KMA spends about 60% of its income on waste (refuse) collection alone in the city, and if the people change their behavior and stop littering about, the resources that would have been used to collect the refuse generated by the people could be used for other developmental activities”, he stressed.

He therefore appealed to the residents to comply to make the city clean and go back with its accolade 'The Garden City of West Africa'.

The crusaders will be branded with KMA shirts for easily identification.