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Birim Central Assembly to enforce by-laws on sanitation

The Birim Central Municipal Assembly is to drag sanitation offenders to court.

Date Created : 4/9/2019 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Emmanuel Yaw Acheampong/Ghanadistricts.com

The enforcement of the by-laws of the Assembly on sanitation is to ensure the creation of healthy environmental conditions for residents in the Municipality.

Speaking at the observation of April's edition of the National Sanitation Day exercise, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Kwabena Bempong said, with effect from April, this year, all shop owners and market women who refuse to participate in the exercise would be a drag to the law court.

He observed that the institution of such measures would help transform the Municipality into one of the cleanest cities in the country.

Mr. Bempong said the sanitation conditions within the various communities were the responsibility of the residents and not the Assembly.

"I am not expected to come to your community and clean your house and gutters for you.

Once a while, we will do that but it is not my responsibility, it is your responsibility", Mr. Bempong told a shop owner.

According to him, education of the public will create more awareness and evoke the consciousness of residents not to dump refuse at unauthorized places and promised to resource the Information Services Department of the Municipality, to effectively carry out that mandate immediately.

The Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr. Douglas N. K. Annoful called for the promulgation of a law to back the National Sanitation Day.

This according to him will compel residents to actively participate in the monthly cleanup exercise.

Mr. Annoful cautioned all shop owners in the central business area who had constructed extensions to their stores to revert their structures to the original boundary of their shops to pave way for fire tenders in case of any eventualities.

In an interview, the Environmental Health Analyst of the Assembly, Mr. Ebenezer Atsu indicated that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development set the first Saturday of every month aside to clean the environment but reports in the Municipality indicated that residents in some communities have developed apathy and indifference towards the exercise.

He added that the exercise held in March last month was poorly patronized, prompting officials of the Assembly to put in more measures to whip up interest in subsequent months.

The latest clean up exercise recorded poor patronage, a situation the Assembly blamed on the failure of the various groups to appreciate the rationale behind the establishment of the exercise.