Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, the Omanhen of Edina Traditional Area, has called on chiefs in the Central Region to make sanitation a priority and ensure that their jurisdictions were clean ahead of "the Year of Return" event.

He said the problem of poor sanitation has become a major issue in many tourism rich areas of the region and this needed urgent attention.

Nana Conduah, a sanitation ambassador, said a clean environment would attract tourists and offer a befitting image to the region during and beyond the Year of Return event scheduled to take place later in the year.

Ghana has officially proclaimed 2019 as the Year of Return where all people of African descent who were captured and transported into the Americas and Caribbean as slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries are expected to return to the country.

Speaking at this year's celebration of Edina Bakatue festival, Nana Conduah urged the people of Elmina to keep a clean environment, especially along the beaches.

The festival, an annual event, where rituals are performed for a week-long celebration and climaxed with a grand durbar, attracted thousands of people from all walks of life including government officials and foreign dignitaries.

Mr Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), described the festival as an integral part of activities marking the Year of Return.

He reiterated the government's commitment to have the ongoing Elmina Heritage Bay Tourism Project, designed to beautify the immediate surroundings of the Elmina Castle to enhance visitor experience, completed on time.

Mr Michael Arthur Dadzie, Chief Executive of the Fisheries Commission, urged fishermen to desist from engaging in Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported (IUU) fishing.

He said the Ministry in collaboration with the MMDAs would soon present subsidised outboard motors to the fishermen to reduce the cost of fishing.