Show interest in National Sanitation Day – Dep. Minister

Ghanaians have been urged to show interest in the National Sanitation Day exercise because it has contributed to fighting sanitation-related diseases like cholera.

Speaking to Class News during the clean-up campaign at Awutu Senya Saturday June 4, Deputy Local Government Minister Emmanuel Agyekum urged continued public support for the programme.

“I know the patronage is coming down, I know a lot of people are not coming out to work. But I want to admonish all Ghanaians to come out and clean the environment. The reason is, ‘What have we achieved so far?’ We are in June..., [and] there is nothing like cholera in Ghana; it means we have achieved a lot,” he stated.

“If you do a comparative analysis and look at last year, comparing last year to the previous years, we had few numbers of cholera. It means [National] Sanitation Day is working and this is what we want to see. We want to see the results and the results are obvious: you go to our hospitals, they will tell you that there is nothing like cholera. And I strongly believe that if we continue with this exercise, Ghana will be free and we will be free out of cholera.”

Meanwhile, Member or Parliament for Osu Klottey Korle Nii Armah Ashitey has emphasised the need for Ghanaians to take the National Sanitation Day exercise seriously in order to avert a recurrence of the June 3 flood and fire disasters.

He told Class News an attitudinal change was crucial in preventing such catastrophes. “We have a National Sanitation Day, clean-up exercises are done, but we must also look at ourselves. Why should you throw litter for somebody to come and clean? We must change our attitude and the press must also help to educate the people to change their attitudes,” the MP advised.

Saturday’s exercise was held with a focus on the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where over 150 lives were lost in a twin disaster on the 3rd June last year. That tragic incident was largely blamed on the choked Odaw River and other drains in the area.