Henry Quartey addre ssing MCEs at the meeting
THE GREATER Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey has met all Municipal Chief Executives (MCEs) in the region and their technical teams to assess their preparedness towards the implementation of the Operation Clean Your Frontage (OCYF or #operationcleanyourfrontage) campaign which is scheduled to start on February 1 this year.
The meeting saw each MCE and their team present action plans on how they intend carrying out the implementation of the campaign in their respective jurisdictions.
The action plans were collectively reviewed by the minister and other participants after each municipality had made their presentation.
The meeting aimed at providing the minister and his technical team the opportunity to review and fine-tune the preparedness of the MCEs and their respective teams towards the implementation of #OCYF
In his remarks, Henry Quartey admitted the project was “a huge task that goes beyond me”, but resolved to work together with all stakeholders to see to its proper rollout.
Debunking claims that the project sought to arrest and prosecute offenders, Mr. Quartey said the operation is not aimed at arresting citizens but rather to improve sanitation, adding that that was why during the piloting, persons summoned were not arrested but rather advised on how best to improve sanitation in their respective places.
“We are doing this together with the citizens. We will continue to engage the citizens for them to understand that the task is for the betterment of the city and the country at large.
“We don’t want people to feel forced. We want them to feel part of the whole project so that together we can achieve the desired results,” he intimated.
He also went on to admonish residents to not wait for the OCYF task force to visit their homes before taking actions.
“At the moment, we are waiting for the transfer sites to be ready; but that would not stop the work we want to do. This period is for creating awareness. We have profiled about 600 personnel of the City Response Team and would soon be sent for training,” he noted.
About OCYF
Operation Clean Your Frontage (OCYF) is a project aimed at improving the sanitation situation of Accra, in line with President Akufo-Addo’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa before the end of his tenure.
The campaign, which also falls under the Let’s Make Accra Work agenda, being spearheaded by the Regional Minister, will see landlords, business owners, property managers etc. take responsibility of the frontage of their properties.
Owners of properties found with filth at the frontage will be made to face various sanctions in line with the law.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio