Dan Botwe, Henry Quartey, President Akufo-Addo and Cecilia Dapaah at the launch on Friday
President Akufo-Addo last Friday officially launched an initiative by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC) called ‘Clean Your Frontage’, to make it mandatory for property owners of residential, private and public institutions and the citizenry to clean and green their frontage and all open spaces around their property.
Operation ‘Clean Your Frontage’ is part of the ‘Let’s Make Greater Accra Work’ transformational agenda that seeks to mobilise and empower all urban actors to practically and sustainably respond to the region’s waste management and sanitation challenges and to complement the government’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
As part of the initiative, some 3,000 people will receive special training under the ‘City Responses Team’ and will be mandated to enforce the bye-laws to make the initiative become successful.
Waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has been tasked to create refuse collection points in all the 29 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Region.
Launching the initiative at the Independence Square in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the implementation of by-laws and logistics alone cannot solve the insanitary conditions in the country.
Rather, he believes attitudinal change will help change the narrative to a large extent, saying “this campaign is a good step in achieving the vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.”
“The aesthetic appearance of our communities, especially the urbanised communities, is critical to among other things attract tourists, investors and promote the well-being of the citizenry,” the President said.
The President commended stakeholders in the sanitation sector, especially the allied ministries, various political parties as well as the Greater Accra Parliamentary Select Committee and the contribution of Zoomlion, and reiterated that “I will do my possible best to make Accra the cleanest city.”
While describing the ‘Clean Your Frontage’ initiative as laudable, the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, pledged the support of all private sector waste management players to the success of the project.
He said his outfit is providing its personnel as well as about 85 compactors and 1,000 tricycles to support this campaign, adding that “the company has come out with the new tricycle model and system of operation that will unionise and assist the informal waste collection sectors to contribute to the waste management processes in a more formal and organised manner to improve waste collection in slums and poorly planned areas.”
He said even though his company has been on the forefront in the fight against poor sanitation, the negative attitudes of some residents towards the environment and the lack enforcing sanitation by-laws have been the two key challenges inhibiting a sustainable clean and healthy environment.
“It is therefore very heartwarming that upon assumption of office, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Honourable Henry Quartey, launched the ‘Accra Must Work Campaign’ and the ‘Clean Accra Project’, by the immediate past Mayor of Accra and his colleagues to make Accra Clean,” he said.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, explained that the exercise will train 3,500 youth as task force under the City Response Team to help polish the Operation Clean Your Frontage agenda.
To ensure effectiveness of the campaign, he hinted that dustbins will be provided from Ayi Mensah down to Ridge roundabout and other major roads within Accra to ensure a clean Accra.
Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe, said it was imperative that the 29 MMDAs in the region step up their efforts towards ensuring their jurisdictions are always clean and up to the task of ensuring cleanliness of their frontages to give the national capital a new facelift that will be befitting of its status.
He encouraged residents in the region to abide by the by-laws and get involved in cleaning their immediate frontages to make the exercise a success.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu