Residents and institutions across the country responded positively to the president’s call for a massive clean up with zeal and enthusiasm undertaking hours of clean up for cleaner vicinities impacted by the floods.
Individuals, students from first and second cycle schools, government and private institutions and personnel from the various security agencies all joined in the National Flood Aftermath Clean-Up Exercise across the metropolis.
Participants cleared overgrown weeds, swept roads and public spaces, and desilted choked drains to improve drainage and help reduce the risk of flooding during future rains.
Tema
From Tema Benjamin Xornam Glover, reports that traders at the Tema Community One Market have renewed calls for the redevelopment of the market, following recent flooding that they say exposed the poor state of its aging infrastructure and drainage system.
Residents in Tema responded positively to the clean-up exercise
They argued that years of unplanned development, coupled with deteriorating structures, have left the market highly susceptible to flooding whenever heavy rains occur.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on Friday July 10, during post flood clean-up exercise, a number of traders said trading activities gradually expanded over the years, with makeshift structures springing up over sections of what was originally a drainage channel.
The clean-up exercise was in response to the June 29 floods, which claimed at least 13 lives in the Greater Accra region and displaced thousands.
At the Tema Community 1 market, a female trader lost her life after a slap over a major drain inside the market caved in and was subsequently swept away by the gushing water.
One of the traders, Noah Worou, said the recent floods had made them realize the extent of the drainage problem beneath the market.
Another trader, Habiba Karim, called for the complete reconstruction of the facility to guarantee the safety of traders and visitors.
Ho
From Ho Alberto Mario Noretti, reports that residents responded to the National Flood Aftermath Clean-Up Exercise with great zeal and enthusiasm as most of them started the workout at dawn.
The exercise in progress at the Ho Old Traffic Light
As of 9:30 am, the principal streets of the regional capital were spotlessly clean.
This was readily evident on the Independence Avenue, Togbe Tawiah Street, and Residency Road and streets, with no trace of rubbish.
As early 5am, public address systems of the various division started reminding residents of the clean-up exercises and urged to turn up in good time.
At Sokode-Lokoe and Sokode-Gbogame, the clean-up was led by the Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Stephen Adom, who commended residents of the municipality for their prompt and massive turn out.
By their turn out, he said, the people of the Ho municipality had demonstrated their high sense of patriotism, he said.
Cape Coast
From Cape Coast, Joana Kumi reports that, institutions and businesses in Cape Coast participated in a significant cleanup initiative throughout the city, coordinated by the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA).
From 6:00 am to 12:00 am, residents and members of various organizations, including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Immigration Service, and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), undertook the responsibility of cleaning specific areas.
These included stretches from the Bakaano Roundabout to the Bakaano Gas Filling Station, from Siwdo Methodist to Kingsway Pharmacy, from Stay Cool Chop Bar to Abura PPAG Junction, from the Academy of Christ the King to the Academy New Town Junction, and from Ekon Junction to Coronation Junction up to London Bridge.
To facilitate the initiative, the metropolian Chief Executive of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Justice George Arthur, donated essential sanitation supplies, including 100 wheelbarrows, 240 pairs of boots, 240 shovels, 245 rakes, 470 pairs of gloves, 235 cutlasses, and 470 long brooms, which were allocated among the 45 elected assembly members in the area.
Kumasi
From Kumasi Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports that all the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were directed by the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to mobilise the people who got involved in the exercise.
During a visit to a section of Asuoyeboah in the Kwadaso Municipality, some people were spotted along Kumasi-Sunyani main road cleaning and clearing weeds that had overgrown on the shoulders of the road.
The usual brisk business activities witnessed on a daily basis as early as 5am at the Central Business District in Kumasi were missing. All shops were closed as traders were seen participating in the exercise.
However, some traders within Kejetia, Adum areas sat in front of their shops awaiting the exercise to end for them to open their shops as their counterparts entered choked gutters to desilt them.
A task force from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) toured the CBD to lock up shops that flouted the directive and to seize items of traders who defied the order.
Speaking in an interview, a trader, Agyeiwaa Kodie, welcomed the clean-up exercise instituted by the government.
