Residents in the Wa Municipal on Saturday expressed their happiness at the way the police in Wa turned out and participated in the fourth National Sanitation Day clean up exercise.

The police cleaned gutters at central market, the livestock market and the lorry park and persuaded young men who were loitering about to join in the exercise.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Stephen Tetteh of the Wa Municipal Police Command led the police in the exercise.

Some of the residents who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said they were happy about the professional manner the police approached people who were loitering and the way they interacted with market women.

He said Ghanaians could move Ghana out of poverty, disease and squalor with a change of attitude towards ensuring clean environment.

Dr. Mohammed M. Alfa, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, addressed participants in the exercise at the Wa Lorry Park and thanked supporters of political parties, the security agencies and other organisations for their active participation in the exercise.

He urged the people in the municipality to clean their environment on daily basis and avoid the habit of waiting for the National Sanitation Day to clean their surroundings.

Mr. Issahaku Nuhu-Putiaha, Wa Municipal Chief Executive, expressed mix feelings about the exercise, saying some residents in the communities did not clean their surroundings while others did very well.

He said the Municipal Assembly had taken notice of all those communities that did not turn out to clean their surroundings and would invite leaders of those communities and talk to them to have a change of attitude towards the exercise.

He said the assembly would sanction communities that fail to clean their surroundings in the future to serve as a deterrent to others.

Alhaji Mahama Nuhu, Industrial Relations Officer of the Ghana Private Road, Transport Unit, said lorry parks were the first contact points of visitors to any town or city and must be kept clean at all times to attract visitors.

He said any filth at the parks portrayed a negative impression of a town or city to visitors and called on drivers to take the cleaning of the parks seriously since they stood to benefit more than any other persons if the parks were clean.