President John Dramani Mahama has set Friday, July 10 and Saturday, July 11, as National General Cleaning Days for the seven regions hit by the destructive June 29 floods that killed about 13 people and damaged over 7,000 homes.
The move is aimed at improving hygiene and cutting the risk of further flooding. The two-day campaign, being coordinated by the Post-Flood Mitigation Committee, will run under the theme “Our Actions, Our Future: Cleaning Ghana after the floods.”
The goal is to get residents involved in clearing their neighbourhoods, protecting the environment and saving lives after the disaster. The Government spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, announced the programme in a statement released on Monday, July 6, calling it a vital national response and urging every Ghanaian to take part.
For the exercise, President Dramani Mahama has instructed all government officials, including Ministers, Members of Parliament, CEOs of state agencies, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and heads of public bodies, to step out of their offices and lead sanitation work in their areas.
The activity will be rolled out in stages for better organisation. On Friday, security agencies, MMDAs and waste management firms will kick off the work.
The general public will take part on Saturday. According to the statement, teams will focus on clearing blocked gutters to allow water to flow freely before the next rains, removing sand, weeds and waste from streets and highways and sanitising public spaces like markets, lorry stations, parks and communal dump sites.
“For far too long, indiscriminate littering and plastic pollution have clogged our drainage systems, contributing to devastating, preventable floods that destroy livelihoods and claim precious Ghanaian lives,” the statement added.
To aid the campaign, all MMDAs have been told to partner with waste management companies to supply equipment such as waste trucks, gloves, shovels and other tools. They have also been asked to make sure all garbage and silt collected are promptly moved away to stop them from flowing back into drains. Government appealed to citizens to show community spirit and join the effort, stressing that a cleaner environment is key to protecting lives and preventing future flood disasters.
