President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans by government to introduce a monthly nationwide clean-up exercise as part of efforts to address Ghana’s persistent sanitation challenges.
The proposal follows the President’s assessment that the ongoing two-day national clean-up exercise alone cannot address the widespread accumulation of waste, choked drains and other environmental sanitation concerns across the country.
President Mahama made the announcement on Friday at Alajo in Accra, where he joined government officials and residents to participate in and inspect activities marking the beginning of the nationwide exercise.
The clean-up initiative is aimed at improving environmental sanitation, clearing blocked drainage systems and reducing the risk of flooding, particularly in communities that are vulnerable during the rainy season.
Addressing the media after taking part in the exercise, the President said the scale of sanitation challenges required a more consistent and sustained approach beyond the current two-day intervention.
“Two days are not enough to finish this work, but we are going to institute it so that at least one day every month all of us should come out and clean our surroundings,” he said.
President Mahama said the proposed monthly exercise was inspired by traditional Ghanaian values where communities collectively took responsibility for maintaining clean surroundings.
He observed that rapid urbanisation had contributed to a decline in communal responsibility, with some residents abandoning practices that promoted environmental cleanliness.
“That is what our traditional values were about. We are taught to keep a clean environment, but when we all leave our hometowns and come, because of the anonymity of urbanisation, we think that nobody watches us, so we dump those values and we live in filth,” he said.
The President stressed that changing public attitudes towards sanitation would be critical to achieving sustainable improvements.
“We must change that attitude,” he said.
Beyond the clean-up exercise, President Mahama disclosed that government was implementing additional measures to address flooding and drainage challenges, especially in parts of Accra where blocked drains and silted waterways continue to create risks during heavy rains.
He said the Minister of Finance had released GH¢150 million to support flood mitigation interventions, including dredging of streams and other drainage improvement projects.
“I’m also asking the Minister of Finance; he’s already released 150 million to help with flood mitigation, that is, the dredging of the streams and all that,” the President said.
President Mahama added that the Ghana Armed Forces would continue supporting sanitation and flood prevention activities even after the two-day national exercise ends.
“And so the military will continue that exercise, even after we have finished this two-day cleanup,” he added.
The proposed monthly clean-up exercise, if implemented, will form part of broader government efforts to promote responsible waste management, improve urban sanitation and reduce the impact of flooding across the country.
