NCCE, Graphic begin Clean Accra campaign
The Accra Metro office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), in partnership with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), has started a sanitation campaign dubbed: "Clean Accra Clean."
The campaign which was launched in Accra last Saturday, has the objective of conscientising the public to the need to keep the city of Accra clean.
It would be in the form of clean- up exercises that would be organised fortnightly. The first of the exercise, which market the launch started at exactly 6a.m., and took place at the Adabraka Market, the Odawna Market, the Tiptoe Lane and the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah interchange.
Teams from the NCCE, Zoomlion Ghana, Jekora Ventures, Stanley J. Owusu, as well as some traders took part in the exercise.
President's vision
A Senior Civic Education Officer at the Accra Metro office of the NCCE, Ms Constance Effah, explained that the ‘Clean Accra Clean’ campaign was initiated in furtherance of the President's broader vision of making Accra the cleanest city in West Africa.
She said even though the clean- up exercises would take place fortnightly, the campaign organisers would make follow-up visits to where the exercise had taken place the previous week to find out if the "Clean Accra Clean" message was being heeded to.
Challenges
Ms Effah expressed concern about the lack of logistics to aid the smooth running of the campaign, adding that her outfit had written to a number of companies to seek for sponsorship but only a few had responded positively by providing assorted items and logistics.
Ms Effah observed that many organisations had in the past tried to run similar campaigns but could not sustain them due to the lack of resources.
She, however, promised that her outfit would work with the limited resources at its disposal for the success of the initiative.
She, nonetheless, appealed to corporate bodies to support the campaign with logistics.
Civic responsibility
For his part, the acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr Joseph Obeng Poku, said it was incumbent on every member of the public, to ensure that their immediate sorroundings were kept clean.
He added that every waste generated had to be properly disposed of in order to prevent the outbreak of diseases and illnesses that were known to be caused by the lack of proper waste disposal.
The Chairman of the Pedestrian Shopping Mall at the Odawna Market, Mr Ernest Mensah, while commending the Accra Metro NCCE office for coming up with such an initiative, said his outfit recognised the importance of keeping its business environment tidy.
He announced the set up of a committee to see to it that the market was always kept tidy.