Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Amasaman Municipal Assembly within the Ga West Municipality, Honourable Desmond Sowah, is urging residents to take personal responsibility for sanitation, saying they cannot always wait for the President, MP or MCE to lead the cleaning of their communities.
Speaking during the exercise the MCE in the company of the MP, Honorable Sedem Afenyo and the Former MP, Akwasi Owusu Afrifa-Mensa, the Municipal Chief Executive, expressed his heartfelt appreciation for the collaboration while appealing to citizens to keep their environment clean.
“We cannot always wait for the president to come and tell us to de-silt our gutters, take our refuse to the refuse dump. Let us do our best and keep our environment clean,” he said.
He warned that poor sanitation leads to disease outbreaks, stressing,“If there is an outbreak of any illness or sickness, it will come to us first before it spreads to other facilities or other municipal assemblies.”
The MCE noted that leaders have many other duties adding,“We cannot come to our neighborhoods every day to see the MP, the MCE over there with shovels… Let us clean our environment so that they can also concentrate and do other work.”
Drawing from experience, Member of Parliament for the area, Hon. Sedem Afenyo, said that during the floods in Amasaman, the MCE could not sleep because of constant calls from residents.
He added that while some disasters are natural, others are caused by human activities, emphasizing the need for responsibility on the part of everyone in ensuring cleanliness.
He concluded by calling for regular clean-ups. “Let us keep our environment clean, do the right thing, and let’s move this country and our municipality forward.”
On his part, the former MP, Hon. Akwasi Owusu Afrifa-Mensa, stressed that cleanliness must not be viewed through a political lens, urging an all-hands-on-deck approach to addressing the same.
He praised the MCE and the current MP for their relentless efforts to address refuse management and the attendant flooding menace.
As part of today’s clean-up exercise which is basically centered on institutions while tomorrow’s is slated for the involvement of all citizens, the MCE, current MP and former MP descended into gutters and grains desilting to allow for free flow of water.
Security personnel in the area actively participated, with some market women actively involved.
The Market Queen for Amasaman, the Amasaman MCE engaged the market women urging them to uphold the everyday clean-up exercise in ensuring cleanliness.
The MP also called on the market women to assist in keeping the market and its environs clean to avert a possible outbreak of diseases.
Market Queen, Adwoa Joyce, assured the leadership of the area of their resolve and commitment to cleanliness, but made a request for dustbins and containers to ensure compliance.
She further appealed for prompt and regular lifting to prevent overflowing and further littering of refuse.
By Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor
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