Ghanaians should own Sanitation Day – Minister

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Peter Anarfi-Mensah, on Saturday led a clean-up exercise at Ahwiaa in the Kwabre East District, advising Ghanaians to embrace good hygienic practices.

“We can bring down to the barest minimum, Out-Patient-Department (OPD) attendance borne out of sanitation-related diseases, if we take it upon ourselves to always tidy up our environment,” he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview after the exercise.

The Minister, accompanied by the District Chief Executive, Alhaji Adams Iddisa, led a team of personnel from the Zoomlion Ghana Limited, to clean the Ahwiaa Market and Zongo, and other areas within the community engulfed in filth.

Mr Anarfi-Mensah said monies channeled to curb sanitation-related diseases could be used for other development purposes, and took a swipe at those who deliberately dumped refuse at unapproved locations.

“In my view, I think the law should deal with such people if they are caught, to serve as a deterrent to others,” he stated.

The Minister used the occasion to impress upon the people to own the National Sanitation Day, since it had been devised to improve the health of the people.

He affirmed the government’s resolve to sustain the Day for the benefit of the masses.

Alhaji Iddisa said the District was mobilizing resources to evacuate heaped refuse dumps in the District, in order to prevent communicable diseases.