By Fatima Adam (fadam775@gmail.com)
In an attempt to fight filth in the country, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Julius Debrah, has called on some institutions to use their platform in educating Ghanaians about the need to participate in the monthly clean-up exercise.
He said, doing so would provide his outfit with the necessary collaboration needed to have a “clean Ghana”, and also inculcate the habit of cleanliness in Ghanaians.
Julius Debrah made the call when he visited MTN Ghana and the Church of Pentecost yesterday to officially invite them to back his outfit in conducting the cleaning exercise, slated for every first Saturday of the month, and launched recently.
He added that the purpose of the call was also to welcome ideas that would sustain the exercise from the above-mentioned institutions, as well as possible ways the initiative could be best implemented.
He lamented that Ghana’s ranking among the ten worst performing countries in the latest United Nation’s Sanitation Standards survey was unfortunate.
Addressing MTN at a high level meeting in the company of some key heads of the ministry, Mr. Debrah appealed that in supporting the exercise, the network provider should send a reminder message to customers ahead of every first Saturday of the month.
On the part of the Pentecost leaders, however, he employed them to announce to their congregation about the initiative, how it would be implemented, and why they must partake in it.
In conclusion, he said his outfit had come to the realisation that fighting filth required collaborative efforts, hence the call on the various institutions.
The Corporate Service Executive for MTN, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, who received the Minister, said the call was in a right direction.
According to her, the exercise had reinforced one of the focus areas of MTN, which, she noted, was to ensure that the communities they operate in are safe. “The whole exercise is very important, not only for the ministry, or MTN, but Ghana, as a whole, and we are privileged to be part of the exercise,” she said.
Also assuring their support to the ministry, the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Opoku Onyinah, also welcomed the initiative, and pledged to educate their members about the exercise.
In his view, the Town Council, which existed sometime ago, must be strengthened to deal and prosecute people who litter indiscriminately.
Apostle Onyinah argued that Ghana’s position in the current UN survey was disappointing, noting that the position can only be changed through collective efforts.
To that end, he said the call must not be limited to the Church of Pentecost, but all the various religious bodies that have, over the years, played a key role in the nation’s development.