By Emmanuel Nyatsikor
Adaklu Torda (V/R), Dec. 09 GNA – Mr Jerry Yao Ameko, the Adaklu District Chief Executive (DCE) on Tuesday said the National Sanitation Day exercise instituted by government, should not be seen as a burden or a form of punishment.
He said it should also not be seen as a form of witch-hunting, but an exercise meant to help Ghanaians live in a clean and safe environment.
Mr Ameko said this after he participated in a massive joint cleanup exercise organised by the chiefs and people of two communities in the Adaklu Torda Electoral Area in the Adaklu district.
The communities are Adaklu Torda and Adaklu Kpodzi.
They weeded, desilted gutters and swept every cranny and corner of the two communities including the Community health centre.
Mr Ameko noted that the reset agenda by President John Dramani Mahama was all encompassing including sanitation, adding that the cleanliness of every community and the country was very dear to his heart.
He said whilst the government was working hard to provide their developmental needs, it was incumbent upon them to take up their sanitation and hygiene issues as a civic responsibility.
“Let us all take up this sanitation exercise as a civic responsibility and take up the challenge of regularly cleaning our immediate environments,” he advised.
The DCE said sanitation helped improve quality of life as it prevented diseases, saying sanitation and hygiene were very crucial for the health of everybody.
He called for the proper disposal of waste and desilting of drains, to avoid the breeding of mosquitoes in their communities, and this could only be done through behavioural change.
Mr Ameko who is also the Dean of Volta Region MDCEs, stressed that though the exercise was not meant for witch-hunting, but as a national exercise, anybody who deliberately refused to participate in it in their communities, would not be spared.
He therefore called on traditional leaders and Assembly members not to shield people who refuse to take part in the exercise, but to report them to the law enforcement agencies.
Mr Ameko praised the people for the massive turnout, adding “your turnout is overwhelming, and I congratulate you for that.”
He said he and his team would continue their monitoring and supervision of the exercise in all communities in the district.
Mrs Stella Vidzro, the Adaklu District Environmental Officer urged the people to sustain the enthusiasm which they worked.
She said the exercise, if maintained, would help eliminate cholera, diarrhoea, malaria, as well as reptiles and rodents from their communities.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/ Christabel Addo