By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, July 11, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday assured Ghanaians that the city of Accra will bounce back after the June 29 flood disaster.
The flood affected seven regions of Ghana, with the Greater Accra Region being the hardest hit, leading to loss of 13 lives, with six persons still unaccounted for.
The President therefore set aside Friday, July 10, and Saturday, July 11, as national general cleaning days in the seven regions affected by the recent floods, to help reduce the risk of further flooding ahead of the expected heavy rains.
Speaking on the two-day day of the national cleanup exercise at Alajo in Accra, President Mahama said: “Ghana is a resilient country… and we’ll bounce back better than before.”
He noted that the turnout was fantastic and very good on the first day of the national cleanup exercise and that people came out to help clean their neighbourhoods.
The President however, appealed to those who were still in their homes and had not come out to join others to work, to do so to achieve the goal to rid the city of the massive filth after the flood.
He also indicated that in the past during clean-up exercises, some people leave the garbage they had taken out of the gutters on the roadside, without following up to ensure that they were collected and properly disposed of.
He said when it rained, the garbage washed back into the gutters causing blockades and flooding again, so he encouraged the public to concentrate on scooping all what would be removed from the drains to be sent to the appropriate dump sites.
President Mahama acknowledged the enormous task and garbage in the city and said although the work could not be completed by the people alone in a day, the Army and other agencies would continue until the drains were all cleared.
He said there were six waste transfer stations that were built more than nine years ago, which unfortunately, were not put into operation.
The President directed Zoomlion Ghana Limited, to open the waste transfer stations with Accra so that the ‘aboboyaa’ (three-wheeled motorised tricycles) and others could take the garbage to these sites for proper disposal, so they don’t need to go all the way to Amasaman to dispose of the waste.
President Mahama explained that the government would later ensure that the garbage at the transfer stations were transferred by the bigger trucks to the site at Amasaman, hence he reiterated his directive to all the ‘aboboyaas’ that were taking part in the national clean-up exercise to go to the nearest waste transfer station to offload.
President Mahama expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for participating in the two-day national cleanup exercise.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo