Elmina Oct. 17, GNA - Business and other commercial activities in the Elmina Township were temporarily halted on Tuesday, during a four-hour massive clean-up exercise to rid the township of filth and garbage.

The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District Chief Executive, Mr Frank Asmah, heads of department and representatives of hairdressers and beauticians associations, artisans and fishermen and a cross-section of the public among others, disilted drains, weeded and cleared refuse at the beach.

The exercise was organized by the Elmina Beach Resort, in collaboration with the District Assembly and the Edina Traditional Council.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency later, the Acting General Manager of the Hotel Mr Victor MacCarthy, said his outfit initiated and sponsored the exercise as its corporate responsibility to ensure a clean environment.

He said apart from the health benefit it would provide the people of Elmina, it would also help enhance businesses in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District, since more tourists would be attracted to the area.

He said it was the vision of the management of the hotel to sensitize the people to take clean-up exercises and sanitation seriously, since no business could thrive effectively in a filthy environment and gave the assurance that the exercise would be sustained and held every Tuesday.

For his part, Mr Asmah thanked the management of the hotel for initiating the programme and stressed the need for clean-up exercises to be sustained and called on other organizations to emulate the example of the hotel.

He described the turnout for the exercise as impressive and urged the people to keep the environment tidy by making good use of litter bins that had been placed at vantage points in the township. He said the Assembly would continue to educate the public on the need to keep their surroundings clean, stressing that the town was prone to cholera and there was therefore the need to ensure good sanitation practices.