The government, in partnership with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has commenced a 2-day National General Clean-Up Exercise across flood-affected areas, as President John Dramani Mahama announced plans to reinstate a monthly national clean-up day to tackle Ghana’s sanitation crisis.
The President made the announcement on Friday after touring flood flashpoints in Accra on day one of the exercise organized by the Regional Coordinating Council and Zoomlion.
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Attitudinal Change
President Mahama said the recent floods, though devastating, should push Ghanaians to act with resilience and responsibility.
The floods have been devastating, but we must show that we are a resilient nation, and we can bounce back even better,” President Mahama said.
During an inspection of the Alajo section of the Odaw Stream, the President decried the level of waste clogging the drains and blamed poor citizen behavior.
This Alajo drain. It’s part of the Odaw Stream. And there are two problems in it. There’s silt, and then there’s also plastics and household waste. You find in a drain like this, there are engine blocks. People discard engine blocks and throw it in the drain. Old furniture, dining tables, everything you can find in that drain,” he said regrettable.
He urged Ghanaians to change their attitudes and stop the reckless disposal of waste.
One, we must change our attitudes and stop the reckless dumping of things into the drain. The drains are not garbage instruments. If you want to dispose of something, you know how to dispose of it.”
$150m Released For Flood Mitigation
To address flooding in the medium to long-term, the President said government has released $150 million for mitigation works, including dredging, which will be sustained by the military after the 2-day exercise.
I’m also asking the Minister of Finance. He’s already released $150 million to help with flood mitigation. That is the dredging of the streams and all that. And so the military will continue that exercise, even after we have finished this two-day cleanup.”
President Mahama also called for a return to communal values and announced that “at least one day every month, all of us will come out and clean our surroundings.”
That is what our traditional values were about. We’re taught to keep a clean environment. But when we all leave our hometowns and we come, because of the anonymity of urbanization, we think that nobody watches us. So we dump those values, and we live in filth. We must change that attitude.”
Enforcement of Sanitation Bylaws
Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, backed the President’s directive and called for stricter enforcement of sanitation laws.
The comment follows the President’s order for a nationwide clean-up after the June 29, 2026 floods that affected Accra and other parts of the country.
We are going to support the government to ensure the enforcement of bylaws, to ensure that people do the right thing.”
He cited illegal dumping by commercial tricycle operators, popularly known as aboboyaa, at market collection points as a major challenge.
The aboboyaa people come and dump here, and then they collect money. They are not supposed to dump here; they are supposed to go to a transfer station,” he said.
He called on the Assemblies to ensure that “container attendant ensure that only the market people bring their waste here. Apart from them, nobody should bring waste here.”
Siaw Agyepong commended the President for leading the exercise but noted that infrastructure alone will not solve the problem.
President Mahama is leading a very good cause, and we have to appreciate him for the bold step of leadership. The President’s plan to revive waste transfer stations would help improve the country’s waste management system, but stressed that infrastructure alone would not solve the problem without consistent enforcement of sanitation laws.”
Zoomlion Deploys 2,000 Personnel
Doris Kwekwor Adjei, Managing Director of Zoomlion Ghana LiLimitedin an interview said the company has mobilized men and equipment nationwide to support the exercise. “Today, we are here, Zoomlion. We’ve responded to the call of His Excellency, the president and we have partnered with government to reclaim Ghana and all the other regions that have been affected by this flood,” Adjei stated.
We have deployed our equipment: tractors, backhoe, compaction trucks, tricycles, brooms, shovels and all to support the community in this cleanup exercise. We have deployed 2000 men on the ground.”
She said Zoomlion has also oopened its ransfer stations and deployed fumigation teams to curb disease outbreaks.
We have been to Alajo… We have deployed our equipment to fumigate the place because as you are all aware in such a time like this, we are prone to certain health risk.”
Sanitation Is A Continuous Thing
Adjei identified citizen attitude as the biggest barrier and called for continuous sensitization.
One major challenge is attitude. The attitude of the citizens, most of the places we’ve been to, you find people sitting on the fence… I will urge everyone. Every Ghanaian that this is for us, we need to desilt, clean drains in our houses.”
She added that “Sanitation is a continuous acrivity. It cannot be a 9-day wonder. It still boils down to attitude and sensitisation of the citizens to understand when to put bottles, where to put organic waste…”
On calls to review waste management contracts, she said Zoomlion is ready to work with government.
Absolutely. You can all see, you know what’s going on? And so, yes, we’re looking forward to that and we pray that’s this will come on. So that together, we can support government because we are Ghanaians and Ghanaian challenges must and should be resolved by Ghanaians.”
The 2-day exercise is expected to end on *Saturday, July 11, 2026*, focusing on desilting drains, waste evacuation, and disinfection of flood-hit areas.
