The Adentan Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region on Wednesday operationalised its “Operation Clean Your Frontage” campaign with the call on residents to keep their frontages clean or be brought to book.
The campaign would officially begin on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, where sanitation officers would go round to arrest and prosecute offenders.
According to the Adentan Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Alexander Nii-Noi Adumuah, the assembly would fully enforce its bye- laws to ensure the success of the Greater Accra Regional Minister’s campaign and the President’s vision of making Accra the cleanest capital city in Africa.
He indicated that cleanliness was important to the well-being of everyone. Therefore, it was necessary to keep our surroundings clean to avoid any infraction with the law.
The MCE stated that the country had to go back to the days where district assemblies employed sanitary inspectors, “Saman-Saman” because some residents refused to take responsibility for the waste they generate or improperly disposed of waste, causing environmental pollution.
Nii-Noi Adumuah explained that the sanitary officers of the assembly would use the first three days to sensitise and educate the various communities on the bye-laws before enforcement took effect on February 1.
He said under the law; “A person who undertakes any commercial or industrial business or public business shall ensure that the premises and the frontage of that business is clean and kept neat at all times.”
Additionally, where a commercial or industrial operation fails to comply, the assembly shall notify the person in charge of the business of the non-compliance and require him or her to clean the frontage within three days.
But, where the industrial operation fails to comply within the specific period, the assembly shall undertake the cleaning and charge the owner of the business with the cost of cleaning, adding that the same law applied to residential and industrial buildings.
The MCE, therefore, warned residents, especially the recalcitrant ones who might think it is business as usual to have a second thought and adhere to the laws.
The MCE advised them to keep their surroundings clean especially traders, warning, “When February comes, there would not be any mercy.”
The Presiding Member of the assembly, Joseph Odai Boye, cautioned the residents to avoid acts and attitudes that would lead to their arrest.
The Adentan Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Eric Winful, urged residents to strictly adhere to the directive in order not to fall fowl of the law.
ACP Winful advised the chiefs and other prominent persons in the area not to plead for those who go against the bye-laws.
The Regional Environmental Officer, Douglas Tagoe, said Accra, which is the eye of the country, has become dirty and unkempt.
He, therefore, called on every resident to support the government’s agenda to make Accra work again.
According to him, the bye-law has adequate penalties for defaulters as they can be fined or be imprisoned.
The Municipal Coordinating Director, Mrs Jemimah Apedo-Kallstrates, said the main objective of the initiative was to make house owners, occupiers, traders, businesses and institutions responsible for the cleaning of their surroundings and frontage.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
