Institutions pledge to sustain Graphic/Zoomlion sanitation campaign
The Graphic/Zoomlion sanitation campaign has received a major boost as key institutions and individuals in the Savannah Region have pledged to support and sustain the exercise.
The institutions include the Regional Office of Zoomlion, the Environmental and Sanitation Department, the Savanna Regional Coordinating Council and some assembly members.
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They pledged the commitment to make the clean-up exercise a routine activity and also increase the sensitisation effort to encourage the citizens to clean their surroundings.
They made the pledge at a clean-up exercise at Damongo last Thursday to round-up the Graphic/Zoomlion Sanitation Dialogue series in the region.
Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) have embarked on a nationwide campaign to sensitise the public and encourage the culture of cleaning the environment to reduce the incidence of preventable diseases.
Weekly clean-up
The Savannah Regional Zonal Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Kojo Njabore, told the Daily Graphic that the waste management company would liaise with the various stakeholders to organise a weekly clean-up exercise to sustain the campaign.
“After today’s clean-up exercise, we are not going to sleep; I will mobilise our labourers and the assemby members so that we organise weekly exercises to clean up the market and the main transport terminal," he stated.
He said the campaign was a laudable one, and that the company would do everything possible for it to be successful and sustained in the region.
The Assembly Member for the Hangaline Electoral Area, Mr Rashid Sumaila, described the clean-up exercise as a "significant initiative" that should not be limited to only the regional capital, but should be “decentralised” to the district level.
He called on his fellow assembly members to embark on regular clean-up exercises in their respective electoral areas to keep the drains clean to prevent flooding and its attendant consequences.
Dust bins
The Municipal Environmental Health Officer, Mr Zakari Budali, observed that the municipality was generating large volumes of refuse every day but had few communal refuse bins, and called on the authorities to make available more bins to cater for the waste.
He expressed delight in the success of the exercise and commended the volunteers and workers of ZGL for showing up in their numbers for the exercise.
The Chief Sub-Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Zakaria Alhassan, explained that the exercise was aimed at sensitising the public to the maintenance of good sanitation practices.
He, therefore, called on the community members to desist from littering their surroundings to avoid environment-related diseases.
Clean-up exercise
The exercise, which was led by some assembly members, unit committee members and chiefs of the area, started around 6:30 a.m. at the main Damongo Market.
The volunteers — made up of personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Police Service and workers of ZGL — swept the open areas, cleared the gutters and heaps of refuse from the market.
Huge tonnes of refuse were also carted by Zoomlion.
Zoomlion provided technical support and the tools required for the exercise, including transport services that carted the tonnes of refuse to the disposal site.