Wa, June 24, GNA - Residents of Wa, the Upper West Regional capital, on Saturday suspended their business activities for four hours and undertook a clean-up exercise to rid the town of filth, by cleaning and clearing all unhygienic places that could become habitats for the breeding and spread of diseases.

The residents, comprising mostly women and children swept around their immediate surroundings and public places and drained clogged gutters with the assistance of the National Fire Service, who supplied water.

Military personnel from a detachment of the Airborne Force in Tamale, who are on security duties in the town, joined them, while some local contractors deployed their tipper trucks to convey the refuse to dumping sites.

Some of the trucks, however, went back without doing any work, because the response to the exercise was not as encouraging as the first one, carried out on May 4, this year. While the women were out in their numbers, majority of men went about their businesses looking unconcerned except at the Central Lorry Park, where men actively participated, thereby giving the area a new look.

At the "Wanwan" Park, a popular durbar and playground in the centre of the town, the members of the Traditional Caterers Association cleared all debris that had of late made the place an eyesore. Mr Henry Bagah, Wa Municipal Environmental Health Officer attributed the lukewarm attitude adopted by the men to the exercise to lack of extensive publicity and the fact that the police, who were deeply involved the first exercise were this time absent.