AMA deploys 200 personnel to sweep major streets in Accra
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has deployed 200 personnel to sweep major streets in the Central Business District as part of a special street sanitation programme.
They will sweep four major ceremonial streets to keep them clean.
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The streets are John Evans Atta Mills High Street, Asafoatse Nettey Road, Kinbu Gardens through Octagon to Kinbu Gardens and Circle to Kaneshie 1st Light.
A gaming company and the headline sponsor of the Ghana Premier League, BetPawa, is supporting the project.
They presented 200 coats (uniforms), 100 raincoats and 100 waste bins to support the initiative.
The sweepers will be working in two shifts of 12 hours, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day and would be supported by officers of the Public Health Department of AMA to enforce the sanitation bye-laws.
The event was attended by representatives of religious bodies, the Ghana Tourism Authority, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, security agencies , Heads of Department and Staff of AMA, Market queen mothers and a team from the South Korea Environment Ministry.
Street sweepers
Speaking at an event to launch the street sweepers initiative in Accra today (Wednesday, December 14), the Chief Executive of AMA, Elizabeth Sackey, said a special allowance had been arranged to motivate the sweepers to do their work.
She indicated that the Initiative was not a duplication of “Operation Clean Your Frontage” but to complement it.
“The City of Accra alone generates waste of over 1,800 tons daily, the highest in the country so far. Unfortunately, most of these waste are not properly disposed of thereby creating serious health issues for the citizens,” she said.
To address the sanitation problems, she said over 300 sanitary offenders, from January to date, have been prosecuted and heavy fines placed on them to serve as a deterrent to others.
She said plans were far advanced in establishing its own sanitary courts to deal with issues of sanitation and related offences.
Other initiatives
She also noted that they were undertaking other initiatives to improve sanitation within the city which included a Source Separation and Compost Project aimed at diverting 50 per cent of municipal solid waste from the landfill in line with the Accra Climate Action Plan.
Others were a Zero Waste Street Project, a rollout of special poly bags for distribution to street hawkers and traders to control litter within the central business district.
“In the coming year some of the informal waste workers and migrants will be enrolled on to the NHIS and provided with protective clothing under the assembly’s collaboration with the mayor's migration council,” she said.
Mrs Sackey, however, called on stakeholders to come on board to scale-up the project to make Greater Accra the cleanest city in Africa as envisioned by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo.
Partnership
A Public Relations and Sponsorship Specialist at betPawa, Nii Armah Ashong-Katai, said their collaboration with AMA was to achieve its mission of empowering people by providing opportunities to change their lives.
“There is no simpler or more powerful way to change millions of lives for the better than by improving sanitation, he said.
He noted that betPawa was eager to do whatever it takes to make a positive long-term difference in sanitation and other areas of everyday life.