Sanitation offenders will not be spared — Ayawaso North Assembly

The Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly has strongly cautioned residents in the municipality against poor sanitation practices as offenders would not be spared when caught.

According to the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Aminu Mohammed Zakari, the assembly had formed voluntary youth groups known as the Ayawaso North Voluntary Task Force, which had been mandated to arrest people caught littering or dumping refuse into gutters.

“We have formed youth groups and we have given them the power to arrest anybody caught littering or dumping into the gutter, and we will proceed to prosecute them,” he said.

The MCE was speaking at the maiden Meet The Press series of the assembly, recently introduced by the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in Accra, on Tuesday, October 29, 2019.

The event was to afford the MCE the opportunity to give an account of his stewardship and state the measures put in place to develop the municipality.

At the event, the MCE dwelt extensively on projects being undertaken under the government’s flagship programmes and the successes chalked in the provision of water and sanitation, education, health, security, roads and street assessing system.

Sanitation

Mr Zakari said the assembly had developed the Municipal  Environmental Sanitation Strategic Action Plan (MESSAP) to complement its sanitation by-laws and to achieve the  Presidents’s vision of making Accra one of the cleanest cities in Africa.

He said they had also signed onto the One Million Bin project dubbed “One Household One Bin (1H1B), and had so far distributed over 500 waste bins out of the 800 received.

He added that they had revived the ‘SamaSama’ concept by embarking on weekly inspections where they summon and fine people who violate the sanitation by-laws.

Touching on household toilets, he said the assembly had subsidised 30 household toilets out of 87 being constructed by the Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly (GAMA).

Agriculture

On agriculture, Mr Zakari said the assembly was strongly collaborating with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to acquire farmlands outside Accra due to the lack of lands in the municipality.

“Also, in collaboration with the Zongo chiefs, discussions are ongoing with Deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of Livestock for the establishment of a multi-purpose breeding station for cattle,” he said.

He added that they were also in the process of acquiring three structures for the training of three youth groups in rabbit rearing.

Education

The MCE said the introduction of the free senior high school (SHS) policy had reduced the school dropout rate in the community.

Touching on health, he said the assembly was undertaking  renovation works at the Maamobi General Hospital, including a disability-friendly walkway at the maternity block, adding that vaccinations were being conducted against Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) and Polio.

On security, he said they had collaborated with the district police command to ensure adequate police visibility, adding that three police posts were being constructed at vantage points while 500 faulty streetlights had been replaced.