Mrs Cecelia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, has called on the public to support the efforts of their district chief executives as they seek to rid their areas of filth.

“Cleaning our surroundings should be an everyday affair and not a nine-day wonder,” she said, adding that the government cannot continue to shoulder the responsibility of the cost of clearing filth generated by residents who continue to ignore the assembly’s bylaws on sanitation and hygiene.

She said this after inspecting a sanitation drive organized by the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly.

Mrs Dapaah also called on shop owners and households to regularly clean their surroundings and secure bins at designated areas for all to use.

The Ministry, she said, would soon inaugurate the sanitation task force to ensure that these and other sanitation expectations are adhered to by the public.

The clean-up campaign, which was organized and launched by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources is in collaboration with the Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies, is intended to help contain the spread of the coronavirus and improve the sanitation situation in affected areas.

The three-day exercise saw assembly members, unit committee members, zoomlion, NADMO, environmental health staff and staff of the assembly desilting drains and choked gutters and clearing heaps of garbage along the streets among others.

The team cleaned areas such as Quaotsuru, Estate, Timber Market, IMS, New Town, Maamobi Market, Maamobi West, Sawaaba and Ladidi.

Mr Aminu Mohammed Zakari, the Municipal Chief Executive for the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly, said the exercise is also geared towards meeting the objective of making Accra the cleanest city in West Africa.

In order to sustain the exercise, he said, the sanitation task force has been formed from volunteers within the area and the assembly would soon launch the “zero tolerance for littering” policy to help the cause.

Mr Zakari advised all residents to comply with the directives to maintain a clean environment and check the spread of the coronavirus.

The assembly, he said, would not relent on its mandate to whip into line all recalcitrant citizens who might want to flout the stated objectives for the general good of all in the society.