As part of the Operation Clean Your Frontage campaign, the Greater Accra Regional Ministry, in collaboration with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has begun a three-month clean-up operation to sanitise and keep the streets of Accra metropolis clean.
The exercise, which will be done daily throughout the three-month period, is also targeted at desilting choked drains and gutters to allow free flow of water, particularly when the rains have started falling.
Additionally, the operation’s task force who comprises personnel from the security services are expected to ensure the streets of Accra are rid of all obstructions.
The exercise, which began Monday (October 3, 2022) from the Laspamas Food Joint at Circle, is expected to last for three months from October to December, 31 2022.
Monday’s operation which ended at Melcom Plus at Avenor, Circle ensured that surroundings along the road in this area were kept clean
Personnel from the Ghana Army and the police provided security and space for the task force to go about their work.
However, some unscrupulous individuals who failed to comply with the AMA’s were summoned to appear before a Magistrate Court at La within the Greater Accra Region.
Some responsible citizens expressed utmost satisfaction about the exercise. They, therefore, called for a continuous embarking on such exercises to remove, especially squatters from authorised areas.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the operation, an Environmental Analyst with the AMA, Joseph A. Asitanga, expressed his excitement at the exercise and was upbeat that it will yield the intended results.
He, however, added that efforts must be made to ensure that the debris gathered along the gutters do not find their way back into the drains and gutters.
We are going to ensure that every obstruction in and around driveways, walkways, unauthorised public spaces, buffer zones and all government lands within the Greater Accra Region ware cleared,” he stated.
He went on reveal that most of the illegal dwellers were squatters who were terrorising innocent people along the streets.
To ensure compliance with the order, Asitanga gave a firm assurance that the AMA will man every spot that its task force will sanitise.
Wherever, the team gets to and identifies a nuisance, the residents or workers are detailed to clean and desilt the gutters and drains,” he noted.
According to him, the exercise had no exceptions to business structures that had been erected illegally at unauthorised points.
He indicated that whether or not a nuisance identified at a location is created by the one spotted, the team will impress upon the one to abate same.
Vehicles parked at unauthorised places such as the pavement or on roads were clamped down with special clamps.
In fact, the operation is simply absolute no abstractions on the walkways, no
refuse in drains and gutters,” Mr. Asitanga warned.
Also, unauthorised owners of cattle ranches and sheep holdings on the railway lines at Avenor near Circle within the Okaikoi South Municipality were charged to immediately remove them.
An Environmental Health Officer, AMA, Ishmael Togoe, issued summons to persons who were causing nuisance at unauthorised locations and asked to appear before the Motor and Traffic Magistrate Court.
A cattle rancher, Seidu Issahaku, was among the perpetrators was summoned by the environmental health officer.
Earlier, addressing the parade of task force, the Project Coordinator of the Operation Clean Your Frontage, Colonel Kofi Amissah-Mensah (Rtd) expressed satisfaction at the swift response of the team to the exercise.
According to him, though the exercise was supposed to start at 8:00 a.m., he attributed the late start of the programme to a decision by them to allow owners of shops within to clean their frontages.
He tasked the media to capture houses that will be surcharged to serve as a deterrent to others.
He disclosed that a special sticker will be printed to tag various houses that will default.