Afienya-Mataheko residents want communal spirit revived

An appeal has gone to the government, through the district assemblies, to revive the communal spirit that engulfed the nation in the eighties.

The Chairman of the Afienya-Mataheko Estate Residents Association, Mr. Christopher Klomega, made the appeal when members of the association undertook a two-hour environmental clean-up exercise on May Day at Mataheko near Afienya in the Dangme West District of the Greater Accra Region.

According to him, the government alone cannot shoulder the burden of environmental sanitation, and this was why he was asking the various district assemblies to take it up as a challenge to revive the communal spirit which swept across the country at the time and yielded a lot of positive results.

Mr. Klomega, who is also a serving Superintendent of Police, suggested that every district assembly should pick a day in a month to undertake communal labour to desilt choked gutters, clear weedy surroundings, and assist health institutions in their districts.

He noted with concern the recent reported outbreak of cholera in the Greater Accra Region, which, he said, in most cases was the result of insanitary conditions.

Supt. Klomega also appealed to the security forces to join in the campaign to whip-up communal spirit by organising periodic environmental clean-ups in their communities of establishment.

Dr. John Bertson Eleeza, a medical practitioner and a member of the association, urged the communities to sustain the exercise, which, he said, would in a long way to bring them closer to God, for cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Dr. Eleeza, however, entreated the Dangme West District Assembly not to abandon its programme to provide drainage for the people of Mataheko near Afienya.

According to him, if that fails, stagnant water would continue to breed mosquitoes, and render useless whatever sanitation efforts were being made by the community.

The Afienya-Mataheko Residents Association, which was formed in 2010, last year constructed a bridge at the cost of GH¢12,000 through self-help to link the Tema-Akosombo highway.