The Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly cleaned up the Odorkor market and its environs as part of its social behavioural change campaign to address flooding in the Odaw basin in the Greater Accra Region.
It is being implemented under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project intended to improve drainage and solid waste management and provide services and infrastructure in priority flood- prone informal settlements.
With partnership from the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council, it is a project of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Sanitation and Water Resources and Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development with support from the project coordinating unit.
The clean-up exercise was held over the weekend in collaboration with the office of the assembly member of the Odorkor electoral area, Mr Ishmael Kwao.
Participants at the event included environmental health officers of the assembly and residents of the area who cleared rubbish, de-silted choked drains and removed refuse from the edges of gutters in the surroundings.
The Municipal Environmental Health Officer (MEHO), Mrs Harriet Krakue, said the exercise was very necessary to stem the wave of flooding incidents in the area in anticipation of the rains to meet the objective of GARID.
Under the GARID project, she said the assembly has received the requisite tools and equipment to enable it achieve the intended objective in the area.
She said de-silting the drains of choked materials would allow for free passage of water anytime it rains which means the incident of flooding would be curbed to a considerable extent.
Prior to the exercise, she said there was a sensitisation exercise by environmental officers to inform residents of the upcoming event in order for them to hold themselves in readiness for participation.
The MEHO said recalcitrant residents were issued with notices to come out to work or face prosecution for non-compliance.
She said residents had a pivotal role to play in the scheme of things as behavioural change was a key component of the GARID project.
According to her, the exercise would be done on a monthly basis in order to ensure that a larger area was covered to mitigate the incident of flooding.
On his part, the assembly member, Mr Ishmael Quao, said his outfit would continue the daily monitoring of sanitation practices and scheduled clean-up exercises initiated by his office to support the overall objective.
He bemoaned the fact that drainage system in the area was very poor which continues to have a toll on the environment.
BY NORMAN COOPER
