By Albert Allotey
Accra, July 12, GNA – The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has directed that all shops and markets in the Central Business District are to remain closed from 0600 hours to 12 noon on Saturday, July 13, 2024, to make way for the Homowo clean-up exercise in the area.
“Within the AMA, all shops and businesses in and around Makola, Okaishie, Kantamanto, Rawlings Park, CMB, as well as Korle Gonno and Korle Bu are required to remain closed on Saturday for the exercise.”
The clean-up, which is dubbed: “Homowo Clean-up Campaign” was initiated by the Ga Traditional Council, led by the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II.
It is being organised in collaboration with the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development, the Ministry of Interior, Local Government Authorities, and the Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
Mr Gilbert Nii Ankrah, the Head of the Public Affairs of the AMA reiterated the closure of the shops in an interview with the media at a clean-up exercise at Avenor and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange enclave in Accra.
He said so far, Sempe, Gbese, Abola, Asere, Dogo Beach, Otublohum, Akumanjen, Ngleshie, and June 4th Market, had been cleaned, adding that sustaining the cleanliness would depend mainly on residents.
He said the clean-up exercise was aimed at enhancing environmental cleanliness across the city and transforming Accra into one of the cleanest cities in Africa.
Mr Ankrah mentioned that businesses exempted from the closure were pharmaceutical and health facilities, as well as financial institutions, stressing that this was to ensure the safety and efficiency of the clean-up activities and facilitate the full participation of all stakeholders.
He called on residents, departments, agencies, corporate organisations, businesses, market leaders, transport unions, opinion leaders, teachers, and students within the jurisdiction to come out in their numbers with their tools to clean the area in compliance with the AMA Sanitation, Cleaning, and Communal Labour Bylaws 2017.
He pointed out that the exercise would be strictly enforced by the Environmental Health Officers, and residents who failed to partake would be sanctioned in accordance with the bylaws.
GNA