The Municipal Chief Executive for New Juaben South, Ransford Owusu Boakye, has revealed plans by the Assembly to establish a dedicated taskforce to enforce compulsory participation by shop owners and traders in its monthly clean up exercises.
The decision, he explained, has become necessary following the persistent refusal of many shop owners and traders in Koforidua to participate in the sanitation exercise, despite being major contributors to the filth that chokes gutters and litters the environment.
New Juaben South Municipality, which hosts the Eastern Regional capital, generates significant quantities of solid waste daily, largely made up of organic and plastic materials from commercial residential,and institutional sources.
The first Saturday of every month has been designated for a clean-up exercise aimed at enhancing sanitation in the municipality and desilting choked gutters, which are blamed for frequent flooding anytime it rains heavily.
While the exercise has consistently been participated by the Paramount Chief of New Juaben, Daasebre Kwaku Boateng III, his sub-chiefs, security agencies, and government officials, a significant number of shop owners,traders and market women continue to ignore the exercise.
“Although I am impressed by the turnout, we have realised that those who generate the most waste, especially some of the shop owners and market traders, are not participating in this exercise. They sit home as soon as we conclude the clean up then they come out to open their shops. The Assembly is therefore considering the establishment of a taskforce to enforce compliance and ensure every stakeholder plays their part,” MCE Ransford Owusu Boakye stated.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Regional Minister, Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, who joined the clean-up exercise in New Juaben North, urged residents to take sanitation seriously as a civic responsibility.
She stated that good sanitation practices are critical to preventing disease outbreak and disasters such as flooding.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
