Students and market women dominate NSD exercise in Bolgatanga

Students and market women in the Bolgatanga Municipality on Saturday dominated the National Sanitation Day (NSD) exercise.

The exercise halted all activities in the Upper East Regional capital and other municipalities and districts as residents embraced the event by cleaning their surroundings.

The clean-up exercise, which lasted for about four hours attracted people such as Alhaji Collins Dauda, Local Government Minister, Mr James Zuugah Tiigah, Regional Minister, Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme, Mr Edward Ayagle, Municipal Chief Executive, Gbandana, Raymond Alafia Abilba, Regent of Bolgatanga.

Members of Parliament from the region also took part in the exercise. Mr Emmanuel Kwadjo Agyekum and Mr Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, both Deputy Ministers of Local Government and Rural Development also participated in the exercise in Bawku and Navrongo and Bulsa North Municipality and Bulsa South District.

Alhaji Dauda said it is a collective responsibility of the citizenry to clean the cities and environment to phase out the sanitation challenges of the nation.

He said: "Filth and the outbreak of diseases kill, it does not know a minister or a member of parliament… therefore, no citizen must exempt himself or herself from the campaign.”

Alhaji Dauda commended the students and the market women for their active participation in the exercise and urged Ghanaians to emulate the good example.

Gbandana Abilba said the NSD campaign is a good and a laudable initiative and expressed the need for Ghanaians to observe good personal hygiene and proper environmental practices.

He noted that cleanliness is the right path to good environmental and public health, and strength and expressed appreciation for the large number of people who participated in the exercise, especially the security services.

The Gbandana said this is a way of uniting people from across the country and this must be seen as one of the laudable initiatives the Local Government Ministry has brought to promote not only sanitation but unity as well.

Alhaji Mumuni Bonaba, National Democratic Congress Regional Chairman told the media that the exercise is a non-partisan affair and appealed to churches, corporate bodies, organisations and individuals in the region to educate the citizenry on environmental and public health issues.

Mr Tiigah thanked the various financial institutions, fun clubs, other agencies and individuals, who participated in the exercise and called for more support for subsequent ones.

The NSD campaign exercise was launched on September 17, 2014.