UE/R: SOCO PROJECT FACILITATORS URGED TO WORK HARD FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE PROJECT – DCE NABDAM
By Raymond Batasia Wegwi
The Kasena Nankana Municipal in the Upper East Region, has organized its 2nd National Sanitation Day Clean Up Campaign in Navrongo Municipality with an encouraging turnout for the rebirth monthly exercise. Led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Faustina A. Abulu , Assembly Members, Sanitation Officers ,Security personnel, Market Queens, Workers of all the Departments and Agencies in the Municipality, Youth groups and other stakeholders , the exercise started at exactly 6 o’clock am, from the Treasury block through to the main lorry station to the old market and ended up at the new Market, where the MCE, Hon Faustina Abulu and other dignitaries addresses the market Women and the enthusiastic crowd .
The Hon. MCE described the participation as good, and promised to put pragmatic measures in place to make the Municipality one of the cleaners in the Region and Ghana as a whole and some of the measures included deployment of the Sanitation Officers daily, to go round and supervise the sanitation activities of the people in the markets, provision of more dusbins and creation of more awareness. Hon. Faustina A. Abulu was however not enthused with the store owners who refused to participate and some even opening their stores that morning because it was a market day and ordered the security taskforce to close them until the exercise was over except Chemical shops and pharmacies. She emphasized that Sanitation management is a shared responsibility and asked the citizens to comply with the laws.
The Navrongo Central Constituency Chairman of the National Democratic Congress ,NDC Mr. Cephas A. Adda, said it was a tremendous improvement over the last month exercise as they people were complying, by joining the cleaning and not setting up their businesses, but he was quick to add that, it’s still not enough, they have to continue with the awareness to let them know that, health is worlth. He assured the gathering that,as a party chairman, he together with the MCE will not rest until the Municipality is clean ,especially the new market where they sell a lot of vegetables to prevent outbreak of diseases.
The Kasena Nankana Municipal Police Commander, DSP Adombire who led the security taskforce comprised of the Police, Prison ,Fire and Immigration officers, remarked that ,”when it comes to the National Sanitation Day Clean Up Campaign the Security is not left out “added that therefore, they’re there to enforce directives giving to them by the Regional Security Council and strictly, some shops were locked up by them for disobeying the sanitation laws that morning, and will be reopened after the exercise was over . He described the sanitation situation in the new market as an “eye shore” which needed to be dealt with seriousness , because that is where the vegetables are sold and may ended up giving people cholera .He said we should all contribute to the Sanitation fight responsiblly, because when there’s outbreak of disease it will not select who to affect.
In a statement read by the Municipal Chief Executive, on behalf of the Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Donatus Akamugri Atanga ,stated that the rebirth of this Sanitation initiative is not one-off activity but a continuous civic responsibility aimed at resetting attitudes, promoting behavior change and strengthen the partnership between the state and citizenry in building a clean and healthier country, and this was in the NDC 2024 people’s Manifesto to reset Ghana sanitation management agenda comprehensively through out the country which was started by the NDC in 2014. He said poor sanitation contribute to undermine the country health, lower it’s productivity, affect education and erodes our dignity as people. He called on the people to keep their markets, places of worship, Streets, schools and homes clean to reflect the new Ghana we are building under the visionary leadership of His Excellency President, John Dramani Mahama . The Minister also made a call to all the traditional leaders, Assembly Members, and all the stakeholders to continue to remind the people that, cleanliness is a shared responsibility and a mark of human dignity and must be a daily habit and not just a monthly exercise which must not also be politicing in political, ethnicity and social divisions lines.
