Agona West Assembly forms task force to clamp down on sanitation offenders

The Agona West Municipal Assembly in the Central Region has formed a seven-member sanitation task force to clamp down on sanitation offenders and strengthen environmental cleanliness in the municipality.

The task force will particularly focus on people who operate shops and stores, hawkers and others who conduct their businesses along the streets and allegedly fail to keep their surroundings clean.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Agona West, Hon. Eric Gyamfi Odoom, disclosed this at Agona Swedru last Saturday after a massive clean-up exercise through the principal streets of the municipality as part of the monthly National Sanitation Day exercise.

He warned residents and business operators against dumping refuse into gutters, particularly shop owners, hawkers and other traders operating along the streets, whom he identified as among those contributing to poor environmental sanitation.

According to the MCE, the sanitation task force would monitor activities along the streets and take action against people who violate sanitation regulations.

He urged the seven-member task force to ensure that offenders were prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

Hon. Eric Gyamfi Odoom also directed people who had constructed concrete slabs at the frontages of their shops to remove them and replace them with metal slabs, warning that those structures obstruct the free flow of water during rainfall and contribute to choked gutters.

He assured residents that the Assembly would continue to take steps to improve environmental sanitation and maintain cleanliness across the municipality.

The Regent of Agona Swedru, Nana Kweku Essieni V, urged the Assembly's sub-committee to involve various groups and associations in the monthly clean-up exercises.

He also called for people who fail to participate in the exercises to be prosecuted as a way of encouraging greater public participation.

The Agona West Municipal Environmental Health and Sanitation Officer, Mr Mac Dzordzordze, warned that sanitation offenders would face stiffer punishment, stressing that maintaining a clean environment was a shared responsibility.

The exercise was attended by Nananom from the Swedruman Council of Chiefs and Elders, staff of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of the Assembly, Agona West Municipal Manager of Zoomlion Company Limited, Mr Christian Ocran, General Overseer of Unique Fire Ministries, Bishop Emmanuel Coffie, Mr Kennedy Kum, Chief Distributor for U-Flesh products for Agona East and West, and workers of Melcom stores in Agona Swedru.